Tag: disciplinary proceedings

On 12 October, the rule of law in Poland was discussed in Warsaw, Brussels, Strasbourg, and Luxembourg. Prof. John Morijn reports from the Court of Justice of the EU and analyses arguments made before the Grand Chamber in the PPU cases. The Advocate General will issue his Opinion on 12 November.

The management board of the Lex Super Omnia (LSO) association of prosecutors may be held liable on criminal charges for reporting the suspected abuse of authority by Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro. Proceedings are pending in this matter.

‘Judge Morawiec does not even have the status of a suspect, yet she is visited at dawn. We want to express our solidarity with Beata Morawiec, judge of the District Court in Kraków, who was not afraid to stand up to Minister Zbigniew Ziobro’ – says Jakub Kościerzyński, judge of the District Court in Bydgoszcz.

Judge Igor Tuleya is accusing the Polish government of, inter alia, breaching his right to private life and his reputation in connection with disciplinary proceedings against him and summoning him as a witness in disciplinary proceedings against other judges.

Jarosław Kaczyński: “there is indeed a problem in Poland with the rule of law, but the main sources of this state of affairs are court judgments contra legem. It is our duty to ensure that these judgments made in conflict with the law are swiftly revoked and the judges who issue them held accountable on disciplinary charges and, consequently, removed from the profession.”

“The involvement of a judge, who speaks up on such public matters related to the rule of law is certainly not a political voice.” Prof. Marek Safjan, judge of the Court of Justice of the EU and retired judge of the Constitutional Tribunal, comments on the reports that the disciplinary commissioners want to prosecute 1,200 judges throughout Poland who signed the letter to the OSCE asking it to oversee the postal presidential elections, which were to be held in May 2020.

Disciplinary Commissioner Przemysław Radzik attacks the authorities of an informal group of judges, which helps defend the independence of the courts and provides support to repressed judges. The commissioner pressed disciplinary charges against them, including the chairperson of this group, Bartłomiej Starosta, and Judge Waldemar Żurek

Judges from all over Poland are reporting themselves to the disciplinary commissioners. This is how they are supporting judges from Piotrków Trybunalski, who are being prosecuted for signing a letter to the OSCE, as well as the head of the largest association of judges in Poland, Krystian Markiewicz.

Two disciplinary hearings for Judge Waldemar Żurek will be held at the Court of Appeal in Katowice on Friday, 3 July. Each of them applies to different charges which the disciplinary commissioners have brought against the judge. Only eight people will be able to enter the courtroom each time as the public. The hearings will be held one after the other. Such an order was issued by the president of the Katowice Court of Appeal – Witold Mazur, nominated by Zbigniew Ziobro, privately, the brother of the head of the new NCJ.

In my opinion, each of the two points of the CJEU order is sufficient for the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court to stop all judicial activity with regard to judges, until the final judgment is delivered by the CJEU or until the safeguard order is amended, Adam Bodnar emphasizes.