Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek has wasted no time initiating a purge. Among those suspended is Judge Małgorzata Hencel-Święczkowska, who happens to be the wife of the President of the Constitutional Tribunal. Judge Bogdan Święczkowski has unequivocally described the minister’s decision as “personal in nature and a manifestation of revenge.”
As part of the recent government reshuffle, Waldemar Żurek, previously a judge at the Kraków Regional Court, has taken over the post of Minister of Justice from Adam Bodnar. The appointment has triggered a storm of commentary. Referring to it, former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro remarked that, according to people who know him, the new minister is “a symbol of personal vindictiveness.”
Today, Dagmara Pawełczyk-Woicka, Chair of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), shared information that seems to support this characterization.
“I have received information that Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek has suspended part of the leadership of the District Court in Sosnowiec, including Judge Ewa Łąpińska, a member of the KRS, and Judge Katarzyna Czerwińska-Koral, whose husband, Judge Przemysław Koral, ruled in a case dismissing criminal proceedings in which Minister Żurek was one of the listed victims,” she wrote on platform X.
She added that “the suspension also applies to certain presidents of regional courts within the Sosnowiec district. The likely aim of these actions is to change the composition of the court’s board, which, among other things, issues opinions on personnel matters concerning judges.”
Unconstitutional Actions
Pawełczyk-Woicka recalled that in 2024, then-Minister Adam Bodnar had also attempted to remove the same individuals. “However, the court board did not approve this motion,” she noted.
“It is worth recalling that the Minister initiated the procedure on the basis of regulations which the Constitutional Tribunal has ruled unconstitutional,” she added, citing the Tribunal’s October 2024 judgment, which deemed Bodnar’s actions inconsistent with the Constitution.
Suspension of the Constitutional Tribunal President’s Wife
According to Niezalezna.pl, among those suspended is also Judge Małgorzata Hencel-Święczkowska – wife of Constitutional Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski. The latter responded to the decision in a statement published here for the first time.
“The decision by Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek to suspend my wife, Judge Małgorzata Hencel-Święczkowska, from her position as court president and to initiate removal proceedings three months before the end of her final term is personal in nature and a manifestation of revenge,” he wrote.
He continued: “This action is entirely unlawful in light of the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling of October 16, 2024 (ref. K 2/24). Nor is there any other justification for Minister Żurek’s decision, which, driven by pettiness, constitutes retribution for the Tribunal’s activities and strikes at my family.”