Judge Justyna Koska-Janusz, who is presiding over the trial of Father Michał Olszewski and former officials of the Ministry of Justice, enjoys above-average recognition from the Ministry of Justice. By decision of the ministry, in 2024 she was appointed to the commission examining trainee legal advisers. She received additional remuneration for this. As a rule, such commissions are staffed by judges “with achievements” from Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Administrative Court, while Koska-Janusz is only a District Court judge.
At the District Court in Warsaw, at the end of February, the first hearing was held concerning the indictment of six people, including Father Michał Olszewski and former officials of the Ministry of Justice. The presiding judge, Justyna Koska-Janusz, who did not agree to most of the defense motions, excluded the public from the proceedings at the end of the hearing.
Career path
The judge is a colorful figure. She is, among other things, an actress from a TVN series. In “Family Court”, broadcast by the station from Wiertnicza Street, Justyna Koska-Janusz played a lawyer. She completed her law studies in 1994, and two years later passed the judicial exam. In 1996-1998 she was a court assessor at the District Court in Gdańsk. Later, in 1998-2004, she served as a judge at the District Court in Gdańsk. Then came a break in adjudication – and quite a long one. In 2004, Koska-Janusz left the court and began working as a lawyer, later as an attorney at one of the law firms. She then established her own law firm, which she ran from 2006 to 2009. By decision of the President of the Republic of Poland of June 2, 2009, she was appointed to the position of judge at the District Court for Warsaw-Śródmieście in Warsaw.
Judge Koska-Janusz was delegated to the District Court in Warsaw in January 2025. In February 2025, at the District Court in Warsaw, in the Criminal Division, on Wednesday, February 5, a “drawing” took place – the Random Case Assignment System. It was to indicate the judge who would handle the case related to the Justice Fund. The judge selected was … Justyna Koska-Janusz. There would be nothing improper about this if not for the fact that the remaining fourteen judges, including Igor Tuleya and Anna Ptaszek, were “excluded from the case before the drawing”.
Next, Judge Justyna Koska-Janusz filed a motion to exclude herself from hearing the case concerning irregularities in the Justice Fund. Years ago, she had sued Zbigniew Ziobro for the protection of personal rights. Now, while presiding over the trial, she may question him.
According to information from Niezalezna.pl, the motion to exclude Koska was not granted by Judge Janusz Zalewski. The same judge who granted the motion of the National Prosecutor’s Office to exclude Judge Łubowski from the case concerning the European Arrest Warrant of Marcin Romanowski.
Money from Bodnar
But that is not the end of the strange delegations and suspicious “coincidences” involving Judge Koska-Janusz.
On August 13, 2024, by order of the Minister of Justice (at the time it was Adam Bodnar), she was appointed to the Examination Commission for legal adviser trainees. She was included as a “rare exception” from a District Court. In such commissions, judges with greater experience usually sit – from Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Administrative Court.
In August 2024, Judge Koska-Janusz was not even delegated from a District Court to a District Court of a higher instance, and yet Minister Adam Bodnar recognized her and selected her…. Of course, the function she performed was associated with additional financial benefits. She earned over PLN 4,600 on this account, as she declared in her asset statement.