At a time when the National Public Prosecutor’s Office is conducting an investigation into the alleged “usurpation of functions” and “concealment of documents” by judges Piotr Schab, Przemysław Radzik, and Michał Lasota, the Supreme Court of Poland has unequivocally confirmed that they are the only lawful disciplinary spokespersons, noted on X by Judge Adam Jaworski, Vice President of the Judges of the Republic of Poland Association.
On Wednesday, a search was conducted at the headquarters of the National Council of the Judiciary. The actions of prosecutors Zbigniew Rzepa and Tomasz Narłowski, accompanied by several dozen police officers, lasted approximately 12 hours. Files from disciplinary proceedings against judges were removed from the offices of the Disciplinary Spokesperson.
The National Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses the lawful Disciplinary Spokesperson and his deputies of “usurping the function of the Disciplinary Spokesperson for Judges of Ordinary Courts and his Deputies by persons who had been deprived of those functions, as well as concealing documentation concerning disciplinary proceedings against judges and judicial assessors by refusing to hand it over.”
As Judge Adam Jaworski, Vice President of the Judges of the Republic of Poland Association, noted overnight, the Supreme Court’s case-law database has just published the reasoning of a Supreme Court decision from late 2025.
The Supreme Court unequivocally confirms that:
- The Act on the System of Ordinary Courts (USP) does not contain provisions governing the dismissal of the Disciplinary Spokesperson for Judges of Ordinary Courts or his Deputies;
- The view of the Minister of Justice that the USP’s power to appoint the Disciplinary Spokesperson and his Deputies automatically entails the power to dismiss them is manifestly erroneous;
- In the absence of an explicit legal basis introduced into the USP, the dismissal of the Disciplinary Spokesperson for Judges of Ordinary Courts and his Deputies before the expiry of their term is, under the law as it stands (de lege lata), neither legally possible nor effective;
- The Disciplinary Spokesperson for Judges of Ordinary Courts and his Deputies are term-based, single-person (monocratic) bodies, which means that only one person may hold each office at the same time. It is therefore impossible to appoint a new office-holder to a position that is already occupied. Consequently, the declaration by Tomasz Ładny, a judge of the Warsaw-Praga Północ District Court (who was “appointed” to an already occupied position of Deputy Disciplinary Spokesperson), cannot be regarded as producing legal effects.
As Judge Jaworski emphasizes, “Judges Raczkowska, Ładny, and Kasicki are not disciplinary spokespersons; in fact, they are usurping these functions, and any actions undertaken by them are ineffective.”
He assesses the investigation conducted by the National Public Prosecutor’s Office as absurd, stating that the prosecutor “continues it despite the evident absence of the statutory elements of a criminal offense.”
“At the very least, one must ask whether the ‘securing’ of the files in order to take them away from the lawful spokespersons and hand them over to usurpers does not amount to at least aiding and abetting an offense under Article 276 of the Penal Code,” he concludes.