“We cannot adhere solely and exclusively to rules established by the legislature,” said Judge Krystian Markiewicz, former head of Iustitia, speaking, of course, about the concept of “rule of law.” As chair of the so-called Codification Committee for the Structure of the Judiciary and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, he praised the purges in the courts carried out by Minister of Justice Waldemar Żurek and declared that his predecessor had acted too slowly in this regard. According to Judge Kamila Borszowska-Moszowska, Markiewicz’s ideas represent “a concept of lawlessness in a robe.”
Waldemar Żurek replaced Adam Bodnar as Minister of Justice. One of his first decisions was a sweeping purge of courts across Poland. He suspended 46 presidents and vice presidents of courts due to their having signed letters to the neo-NCJ(neo-KRS) or being classified as neo-judges. According to the minister’s statements, these individuals will lose their positions.
The decision was commented on in an interview with Onet by Krystian Markiewicz, former president of Iustitia, whom Bodnar appointed as head of the so-called Codification Committee for the Structure of the Judiciary and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The judge called the new minister’s move a “surgical cut” and stated that he had repeatedly called on Żurek’s predecessor to take similar actions.
“These individuals [the suspended judges – editor’s note] are, in the view of Minister Żurek and the so-called rule-of-law community, people who have violated the Constitution – either by helping dismantle the legal NCJ, or later by participating in competitions before that body. This is a precise cut. Decisive – and it’s very good that it happened,” he said.
He believes Bodnar was too slow on this issue.
“Let’s prepare for difficult times”
“Let’s now focus on the issues that matter to all of us and prepare for potentially difficult times, because they may come quickly,” he declared.
Asked whether the “difficult times” referred to a possible victory by Law and Justice in the upcoming elections, he didn’t answer directly. However, he did state that both he, Żurek, and many others had already experienced such “difficult times.”
“We know what it means when those difficult times come, and we can’t be satisfied just because Adam Bodnar is minister, or Waldemar Żurek is minister, and things are kind of okay now – because they might get very not-okay later,” he said.
His remarks suggest that the new minister intends to further entrench the legal system.
“If we don’t prepare, if we don’t build the foundations of the rule of law, this house of cards will be blown away in three days,” he warned.
Markiewicz believes Bodnar was slow because he “followed paths created by his predecessors.”
“That’s exactly why those paths were created – so that the operation of restoring the rule of law would fail. That was the whole point,” he said.
Two types of law – in the name of rule of law
What is this legendary rule of law that Markiewicz kept referring to throughout the interview? It’s hard to say. When asked whether Bodnar’s actions were “slow” because he acted “according to the law”, the former head of Iustitia claimed that there are… two kinds of law.
“There’s law with a lowercase ‘l’ and Law with an uppercase ‘L’,” he blurted out.
He referenced a lecture by former president of the Constitutional Tribunal, Prof. Marek Safjan, who allegedly said that “the boundaries of law must be set by Law with a capital ‘L’.”
“What does that mean? Not those statutes created by people whose goal was to destroy the rule of law, but higher-order law – the Constitution, international law. After all, we have many directives that come directly from numerous rulings of the courts in Strasbourg and Luxembourg. That is also law.”
“Law is hierarchically structured. You cannot adhere solely to the rules established by the legislature – especially when we don’t have a functioning constitutional court. Because then, we’re playing by the rules set by those who aim to destroy the rule of law, and we know how that game ends,” he stated.
“A concept of lawlessness in a robe”
Judge Kamila Borszowska-Moszowska of the District Court in Świdnica responded to Markiewicz’s musings.
“Let’s be honest – there is no such category in the Constitution. This is a narrative for those who want to act above the law, not within its bounds,” she said on platform X.
“In a state governed by the rule of law, rulings of international tribunals are not sources of law. Articles 7, 87, and 178 of the Constitution apply. The sources of law are clear. Legalism is not optional. This is not a theory of law. This is a concept of lawlessness in a robe,” she emphasized.