Judges supporting candidates for the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) are systematically eliminated from public life by the executive branch and by some judges – noted the Chairwoman of the National Council of the Judiciary, Dagmara Pawełczyk-Woicka. This is a direct violation of Article 32 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. The government is now demanding the dismissal of 44 election commissioners solely because they signed lists supporting candidates for membership in the KRS.
At the beginning of his term as minister, on July 31, Waldemar Żurek, head of the Ministry of Justice, announced that he had asked the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration (MSWiA) to consider dismissing 44 judges serving as election commissioners.
He stated that these judges, “by entangling themselves in procedures contrary to our constitution, do not guarantee the proper execution of their office.”
On August 4, the media reported that the MSWiA had addressed the head of the National Electoral Commission (PKW), requesting the dismissal of a large group of judges from their posts as election commissioners. The reason? Because they signed lists supporting candidates for the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017 and “participated in the nomination procedure before such a constituted Council.”
MSWiA, on Żurek’s orders, writes to the National Electoral Commission
The document sent from the MSWiA to Judge Sylwester Marciniak, head of the PKW, was shown on social media by the Chairwoman of the KRS, Dagmara Pawełczyk-Woicka. “In the opinion of the Minister of Justice, the aforementioned election commissioners do not provide a guarantee of properly fulfilling the duties of an election commissioner,” wrote Secretary of State at the MSWiA, Tomasz Szymański. He added that, in the view of the Ministry of Justice, “serious doubts arise” as to whether the commissioners meet the criterion of “political neutrality.” The document lists the names of the judges in question.
Open discrimination
“Judges supporting candidates for the KRS are systematically eliminated from public life by the executive branch and by some judges” – stressed Pawełczyk-Woicka. She pointed to examples such as dismissals from the posts of court presidents and vice-presidents, overturning of their rulings, bans on teaching at the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution, threats of disciplinary proceedings, and dismissals from the function of election commissioners.
“Judge Paweł Wysocki from the District Court in Jaworzno, who supported Judge Ewa Łąpińska, is temporarily protected, since the Ministry of Justice is not demanding his dismissal as election commissioner because it needs his vote in the matter of dismissing presidents in the Sosnowiec circuit?” – asked the head of the KRS.
She reminded that Article 32 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland states that all are equal before the law and no one may be discriminated against for any reason.