“What is happening in the courts looks like paying off political debts for supporting the Civic Platform in the parliamentary elections,” said Law and Justice (PiS) chairman Jarosław Kaczyński. On Monday, the Niezalezna.pl portal revealed a shocking decision by the Court of Appeal in Poznań, which overturned the verdict against a man convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl.
The Court of Appeal in Poznań overturned the verdict against the rapist of a 14-year-old – a man who committed the crime as a repeat offender – as it was reported Monday on Niezalezna.pl. Just a few days before our publication, the same court made a similar decision: it overturned a life sentence for a man convicted of murdering his wife and two young daughters.
Both cases are highly controversial because, in both instances, the reason for overturning the verdicts was that the first-instance judgments had been issued by so-called “neo-judges,” not recognized by the current authorities.
Niezależna’s report sparked enormous public outrage. Politicians and members of the legal community criticized the judges of the Poznań appellate court. That evening, Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński commented on the matter.
“What is happening in the courts looks like paying off political debts for supporting the Civic Platform in the parliamentary elections. Murderers and sexual degenerates are having their convictions overturned, meaning they are not being held accountable for their cruel crimes,”
he wrote on social media.
The PiS leader asked: “Is this what Tusk–Żurek’s ‘rule of law’ looks like?” He added, “Impunity for criminals is a direct blow to the safety of every Pole.”
It is worth recalling another astonishing aspect of the case we described. The appellate panel in Poznań that overturned the verdict for the pedophile included Judge Piotr Michalski, who took his current post following a decision by the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) that is not recognized by the authorities.