If the Minister of Justice in the government, Adam Bodnar, believes that he can “manually” control judges who are disobedient to him, he is greatly mistaken. As reported by attorney Bartosz Lewandowski on platform X, several judges have just filed a lawsuit regarding their unlawful and arbitrary removal from adjudicating duties in criminal cases and their reassignment to a specially created section.
As attorney Lewandowski reported, the judges are demanding, among other things, that the leadership of the District Court in Warsaw allow them to adjudicate in criminal cases in accordance with the original division of duties, as well as compensation for the violation of the principle of equal treatment (prohibition of discrimination in the workplace – Article 18(3a) of the Labor Code). In a lengthy post published by the attorney on X, we read:
“Five judges of the VIII and XVIII Criminal Divisions of the District Court filed a lawsuit with the District Court for Warsaw-Żoliborz regarding their unlawful and arbitrary removal from adjudicating duties in criminal cases and their reassignment to a specially created section.
In the lawsuit filed with the labor court, the judges are demanding, among other things, that the leadership of the District Court in Warsaw allow them to adjudicate in criminal cases in accordance with the original division of duties, as well as compensation for the violation of the principle of equal treatment (prohibition of discrimination in the workplace – Article 18(3a) of the Labor Code).
The judges, under a decision approved by the Ministry of Justice by the new leadership of the District Court in Warsaw on February 7, 2025, were removed from adjudicating in criminal cases heard in the first instance. The apparent basis for this decision was the fact that they were appointed by the President of the Republic of Poland upon the request of the National Council of the Judiciary, whose structure was shaped by the 2017 amendment act.
Despite the judges’ objections, they were directed to adjudicate in the newly created Section XII of the Criminal Division of the District Court, where they were assigned to perform judicial activities in a significantly limited scope. The judges were deprived, among other things, of adjudicating in cases initiated by indictments, prosecutor’s requests for the extension of preventive measures in the form of temporary arrest, or requests for disciplinary penalties imposed at the request of investigative committees.
The arbitrary removal from adjudicating affected only 10 first-instance criminal judges, even though the number of judges appointed by the President after 2017 in the District Court in Warsaw is much larger (these judges also adjudicate, among others, in appellate criminal divisions, civil divisions, or so-called “frank” divisions).
Importantly, the leadership of the District Court in Warsaw, in blatant violation of Article 22a § 6 of the Act on the System of Common Courts, immediately suspended the random assignment of cases to the “excluded” judges under the previous rules. Immediately, the “removed” judges were assigned cases within the so-called section, despite their appeals to @KRS_RP.
According to the applicable regulations, filing an appeal suspends the effectiveness of the new division of duties until the appeal is considered. Moreover, the Vice-President of the District Court in Warsaw for work organization and coordination of actions restoring the rule of law standards, Hubert Zaremba, acting on behalf of the President of the District Court, unjustifiably and arbitrarily rejected the judges’ appeals against the change in the division of duties as inadmissible, without forwarding them to the National Council of the Judiciary, thereby depriving them of the statutory means of appeal.
The plaintiffs demand the hearing of over 20 witnesses, including members of the leadership of the District Court in Warsaw, the Minister of Justice @Adbodnar, Deputy Minister of Justice Dariusz Mazur, and the head of the so-called section, Judge Piotr Gąciarek.”