The President of the Republic of Poland was asked today about the state of the judiciary and the conduct of certain members of the judicial community.
“If they don’t come to their senses, they will have to be removed from the judiciary without the right to retirement benefits,” he said.
President Andrzej Duda was interviewed jointly by Otwarta Konserwa, Nowy Ład, and the Jagiellonian Club about the need for a “reset” in the justice system. Duda criticized part of the judiciary, which, as he said, “takes sides in the political dispute.”
“Judges have this written into their professional ethics, which for the past ten years has been brutally and shamelessly violated by a segment of the judicial community, leading to the current crisis,” he assessed.
“I’ll put it this way: if this community doesn’t come to its senses and initiate a reset on its own, it will end with all these people being expelled from the judiciary, without the right to retirement. I emphasize: perhaps the day will finally come when it simply has to be done,” stated President Andrzej Duda.
The expulsion of a judge without the right to retirement benefits is currently also possible if the judge commits a disciplinary offense resulting in a ruling of dismissal from service. Such a penalty strips the judge not only of the ability to continue adjudicating but also of the right to judicial remuneration.