At the District Court in Warsaw a section will continue to operate to which a group of criminal-law judges, harassed both by the political authorities and the court’s leadership, were exiled. No formal ordinance has been issued, but the rules governing its operation are to remain unchanged. This was determined with the head of the section, Piotr Gąciarek, as established by the Niezalezna.pl portal. “Nominees of the Minister of Justice are consistently and deliberately implementing a plan involving blatant segregation and discrimination against some judges,” assessed Judge Radosław Lenarczyk, a member of the association Lawyers for Poland.
Almost exactly a year ago, the Niezalezna.pl portal was the first to report that a special section would be created at the District Court in Warsaw to which all judges distrusted by those in power would be sent. The aim was to remove them from adjudicating the most serious criminal cases, even though they were often very experienced lawyers.
It quickly became clear that this was a disastrous idea, not only because it directly interfered with judicial independence, but also because it affected the pace of adjudication. Interestingly, it was mainly the “senior” judges who complained, as the decision resulted in them having more and more cases assigned to their dockets.
As we have established, at present hundreds of cases in the section remain without a scheduled date, and delays are often measured in many months. The situation became so serious that a month ago the vice-president for criminal matters, Judge Aneta Obszyńska-Małocha, issued an order placing under administrative supervision proceedings that have not had a hearing date set for over six months. She even obliged the head of the section, Judge Piotr Gąciarek, to take more active steps.
This could have been addressed earlier – already in mid-year various ideas emerged, for example to create a new criminal division staffed by judges from the section but with a full inflow of cases. All such concepts, however, became obsolete with the appointment of Waldemar Żurek as Minister of Justice.
A decision on the future of the section was to be made in December, based on a report summarizing its activity and its impact on the court’s work. We therefore checked whether anything had changed or would change in the coming days.
Judge Anna Ptaszek, spokesperson for the District Court in Warsaw, informed us that such an analysis had not been prepared. And the key information was this: “No changes to the functioning of the section are envisaged.”
We also learned that no formal ordinance or other decision has been issued in this matter by those currently managing the court. Simply put – the status quo has been maintained.
How do the judges directly affected assess the situation? Niezalezna.pl spoke with Judge Radosław Lenarczyk, the lawful vice-president of the District Court in Warsaw, who, however – after the coalition of December 13 took power – was prevented from performing his duties.
“The lawlessness of ‘neo-rule of law’ continues,” he stated categorically.
“More than 10 months have passed since the creation of the ‘section’. Nominees of the Minister of Justice are consistently and deliberately implementing a plan involving blatant segregation and discrimination against some judges, through the creation of a ‘section’ that is in fact a ‘ghetto’ and the forced, unlawful transfer of these judges to it. This has made it possible, through administrative means and arbitrarily, to remove a group of judges from adjudicating some of the cases coming before the court, including those initiated by an indictment filed by a prosecutor or by a motion to extend pre-trial detention,” recalled the member of the association Lawyers for Poland.
Emphasizing that “in the meantime, as many as three vice-presidents of the court have resigned, including the vice-president for so-called restoration of the rule of law and the vice-president for criminal matters, and yet the section remains. During this period, resolutions of the National Council of the Judiciary, issued as a result of appeals filed by judges transferred to the ‘section’, have not been implemented. The court’s leadership has also failed to notice that under Article 22a § 6 of the Law on the Structure of Common Courts, the filing of an appeal against a change in the allocation of duties automatically suspends the execution of such a decision,” he added, asking, “Does the question arise whether 10 months is too short a time to familiarize oneself with the applicable legal provisions and reflect?”
“Instead of liquidation, what is being planned is the expansion of the ‘section’, a reorganization through the allocation of additional office space for its needs in 2026 – a kind of pushing ahead. Those responsible for this state of affairs should be reminded that in a democratic state governed by the rule of law, the passage of time does not mean that actions that are obviously unlawful can be forgotten and recognized as legal, as if taken under the authority of the law. That is not how it works. A state governed by the rule of law does not recognize such a concept as ‘neo-rule of law’, and unlawfulness is not synonymous with legalism and compliance with the law. The principle dura lex sed lex means the uncompromising nature of the law,” Judge Lenarczyk explained.
He also points to a paradox that is currently in operation: “Judges in the ‘section’ have been assigned to hear cases concerning the issuance of aggregate sentences. Meanwhile, at the Court of Appeal in Warsaw, rulings are being issued overturning aggregate sentences handed down by the court with the participation of judges currently assigned to the ‘section’, due to the creation of an absolute ground of appeal, namely the issuance of a judgment by such a judge. This is what you call logic in a system of restoring ‘neo-rule of law’, creating and maintaining a ‘section’.”