“None of the judges on the panel filed a dissenting opinion. Due to the secrecy of deliberations, it is not known whether the verdict was unanimous,” the spokesperson for the Poznań Court of Appeal told Niezależna.pl when asked about the overturning of the conviction of a rapist, which we reported earlier today. The case has sparked outrage — including among judges and politicians. “What this judicial caste is doing right now is the worst (…) I’ve ever seen,” wrote Marcin Warchoł (PiS).
No dissenting opinion
A few days ago, Niezależna.pl reported that the life sentence handed down by Judge Daniel Jurkiewicz to Serhii T. for murdering his wife and two daughters was overturned. The Poznań Court of Appeal made that decision because Jurkiewicz is regarded by the authorities as an “illegitimate judge.”
Today, we revealed that another verdict delivered by Judge Jurkiewicz was also annulled — this time involving a pedophile who raped a child. The three-year prison sentence handed down in the first instance was overturned, and the trial will have to start over. The offender is a repeat sex offender who had already served time for sexual crimes, but for the appellate panel, the key issue was that Judge Jurkiewicz had been appointed after 2017 — a reasoning that seems absurd, especially considering that one of the three judges in the appellate panel had also been appointed after 2017.
We asked the spokesperson for the Poznań Court of Appeal for the reason behind such a decision.
“The verdict of the District Court in Poznań in case no. III K 119/24 was overturned by the Poznań Court of Appeal, and the case was referred for retrial (October 22, 2025, ref. II A Ka 263/24) because the panel that ruled in the case — due to the participation of Judge Daniel Jurkiewicz — did not meet the criteria of independence and impartiality belonging to a ‘court established by law’ in the constitutional and conventional sense (see also Supreme Court ruling of July 18, 2024, I KK 86/24). None of the judges on the panel filed a dissenting opinion. Due to the secrecy of deliberations, it is not known whether the verdict was unanimous,” Judge Elżbieta Fijałkowska told us.
The annulment has sparked major outrage
The case we report on today has been widely commented on by lawyers, associations, and politicians, many of whom have shared our materials about this shocking decision. “This is happening with taxpayers’ money! The judicial caste has completely lost it,” wrote the association Sędziowie RP (“Judges of the Republic of Poland”).
“What this judicial caste is doing right now is the worst (…) I’ve ever seen. And I won’t mince words, because it’s hard to keep calm in a case like this. They overturned the sentence of a child rapist — a repeat offender!!!” wrote MP Marcin Warchoł, visibly emotional.
The association Ad Vocem also issued an important statement:
“The fact that one of the judges deciding to overturn the first-instance verdict was himself appointed with the participation of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) shaped after 2017 shows that this is not about the law. Nor is it about any principles or European court rulings. It’s simply a self-proclaimed judicial areopagus deciding, as it pleases, that one judge is tainted while another is as pure as a lily. The actual experience or record of the ‘disqualified’ judge doesn’t matter, nor does whether his appointment procedure was constitutional. The opinion of the parties to the proceedings doesn’t matter,” the association wrote, quoting part of our earlier article.
“Citizen, Pole, compatriot — you must get used to the fact that in our society there exists a supreme caste that can do whatever it wants. Unless someone dares to finally say, ‘enough,’” the statement concluded.