The President of the Republic of Poland was asked today about the state of the judiciary and the behavior 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 speaking in a joint interview for Otwarta Konserwa, Nowy Ład, and Klub Jagielloński, where he was asked about the need for a “reset” in the justice system. Duda criticized part of the judiciary, which – as he said – “takes the side of one political faction.”
“Judges are bound by a code of professional ethics, which has been blatantly and brazenly violated by some members of this community for the past ten years, leading to the current crisis,” he stated.
“I’ll put it this way: if this community doesn’t come to its senses and doesn’t carry out a reset on its own, it will end with all those people having to be expelled from the judiciary, without the right to judicial retirement. Let me emphasize that. Perhaps the day will finally come when we simply have to do it,” declared President Andrzej Duda.
Expulsion from the judiciary without the right to retirement is currently possible in cases where a judge commits a disciplinary offense resulting in dismissal from service. Such a penalty strips the judge not only of the right to adjudicate but also of judicial retirement benefits.