For two months, Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek has complained that the International Proceedings Section at the Warsaw Regional Court should not consist of just one person. He repeated the same claim at Thursday’s press conference. So it was checked whether anything had actually changed – apart from replacing the head of the section. “As of the date of this response, no other judges have joined the above-mentioned Section”, wrote the Vice-President of the Warsaw Regional Court yesterday afternoon.
The dismissal of Judge Dariusz Łubowski from his position as head of the International Proceedings Section at the Warsaw Regional Court – first reported by the portal Niezalezna.pl – caused a stir among legal professionals, especially since the decision was made shortly after the European Arrest Warrant against Marcin Romanowski had been revoked.
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek repeatedly assured that the change in the section’s leadership was not related to the content of Judge Łubowski’s rulings. On Wednesday, speaking on Radio Zet, he argued that the move was a consequence of the “operational difficulties of a single-person section”. In his view, “it was inappropriate in the realities of a large court in the capital, especially in cases concerning the European Arrest Warrant”. He added, “When that person goes on vacation or takes sick leave – and that did happen – the single-person section suddenly comes to a standstill. Kraków, which is much smaller, had a section composed of more than one person”.
He repeated the argument about difficulties resulting from the section’s narrow staffing during Thursday’s press conference, responding to questions from journalist Tomasz Grodecki, stating, “I have said this many times and I will repeat it again today – I do not know whether this section is multi-member after these reorganizations. I believed, and I still believe, that such a section, located in the capital of a large country like Poland, with very intensive international turnover, should not consist of a single person”.
Section Still One-Person
So it was verified what is actually happening in the section, especially since Żurek first spoke about these difficulties back in December. Two months have therefore passed.
The portal Niezalezna.pl established that, regarding the supplementation of staffing shortages in the section, Vice-President of the Warsaw court Aneta Obszyńska-Małocha had already contacted division heads at the beginning of the year. The deadline for applications expired on January 22.
How many people applied? How large is the section now?
“As of the date of this response, no other judges have joined the above-mentioned Section”, Judge Obszyńska-Małocha replied yesterday afternoon.
This means that the section remains a one-person unit. The only difference is that Judge Łubowski has been replaced as head by Judge Tomasz Grochowicz.