Comments continue to pour in regarding information disclosed by TV Republika about a motion for an European Arrest Warrant against Marcin Romanowski. On Thursday, the broadcaster reported that sudden changes were made to the duty schedule at the District Court in Warsaw, after which the case was assigned to a judge associated with initiatives opposing the Ministry of Justice when it was headed by Zbigniew Ziobro. The internet is abuzz, and Romanowski’s defense is demanding explanations.
As TV Republika revealed on Thursday, at the moment when it was decided to depart from the random assignment of a judge in the case concerning the European Arrest Warrant for Marcin Romanowski – with the matter supposed to be handled by the duty judge – sudden changes were made to the schedule at the District Court in Warsaw.
Initially, the case was to be assigned to Judge Alina Sobczak-Barańska. However, after the changes, it will be handled by Judge Izabela Ledzion, who in the past supported initiatives against the Ministry of Justice when it was led by Zbigniew Ziobro. What is worth emphasizing is that Judge Sobczak-Barańska – on the days when the changes were made – was in fact adjudicating as usual.
“In the defense’s assessment, this requires an absolute and unconditional explanation,” said attorney Bartosz Lewandowski on Thursday. He recalled that he had filed a motion yesterday to revoke the decision to depart from the random assignment of a judge, because, as he pointed out, “in accordance with the order of the President of the District Court, cases of the international section should be subject to random assignment, and a duty judge may only actually substitute for another judge, but only in specific situations which simply did not occur in this case,” he said.
“Leaving aside the fact – just to be clear – that for about a year and a half we have had a situation in which 10 judges of the District Court – appointed after 2017 – have been removed from adjudicating in first-instance criminal divisions, they also do not decide on detention matters, so they were not in fact subject to random assignment and are not subject to it. […] We are dealing with a situation in which there is a group of excluded judges and, at the same time, some last-minute changes are being made to the duty schedule, which – I remind you – is established a year in advance,” he said.
Why was Judge Sobczak-Barańska replaced in the schedule? “Perhaps this is related to the judge’s previous case law, because not always, let us say, were her rulings consistent with what the government side expected, but this is solely my speculative opinion,” he stated.
An avalanche of comments
The facts disclosed by TV Republika triggered a storm online. Opposition politicians openly describe the current authorities as a “regime” and point to a lack of reaction from human rights organizations, while – as they argue – the authorities “are breaking the law.”