Have all boundaries been crossed? The Ministry of Justice, specifically Piotr Raczkowski, director of one of its departments, has sent guidelines to courts across Poland instructing judges how they should proceed. It even included a ready-made court filing template. Lawyers are astonished, saying this amounts to a direct interference with judicial independence and the impartiality of judges. The controversy was triggered by a ruling from a German court, which refused to surrender a fugitive to Poland under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW), citing concerns about conditions in Polish prisons and the risk of “inhuman treatment.”
On May 13, 2026, a German court refused to execute a European Arrest Warrant issued by the Regional Court in Warsaw. According to the court’s reasoning, judges in Kiel were concerned about prison conditions in Poland and the possibility of “systemic deficiencies” within the country’s prison system.
In other words, the German court concluded that the Polish authorities had failed to dispel doubts as to whether the surrendered individual would be detained in conditions that complied with human rights standards. The decisive factor was Poland’s failure to provide so-called assurances regarding the detention conditions of the specific individual.
Instructions from the Ministry
The ministry headed by Waldemar Żurek reacted swiftly. As established by Niezalezna, the Ministry of Justice sent instructions to presidents of courts throughout Poland explaining how they should handle similar cases. The document was described as a “standard for providing information and assurances.” Niezalezna obtained the document, and its contents are striking.
In a letter signed by Judge Piotr Raczkowski, Director of the Department for the Enforcement of Judgments and Probation, the ministry outlines a scenario in which a single German ruling could trigger a domino effect: more refusals by German courts, other countries adopting the same approach, and, ultimately, a weakening of the principle of mutual trust on which the entire European Arrest Warrant system is based. The department warns that this could reduce the effectiveness of prosecuting wanted individuals and undermine confidence in the Polish justice system.
“The analysis of the case indicates that the decisive factor in the German court’s ruling was Poland’s failure to provide assurances regarding the detention conditions of the requested person,” Director Raczkowski wrote.
The Ministry Tells Judges What to Do
This is where the most controversial part begins. Rather than merely identifying the problem, the department director lays out a detailed step-by-step procedure for presidents of appellate courts.
According to the ministry’s recommendation, regional courts should respond directly to every foreign inquiry concerning prison conditions. Before doing so, they are instructed to request information from the Central Board of the Prison Service regarding detention conditions and to seek the position of the Ministry of Justice from the Department for the Enforcement of Judgments and Probation.
The court is then expected to prepare its response “using the template” provided by the ministry and attach the positions of both the Central Board of the Prison Service and the department.
“I kindly request that you inform the presidents of the regional courts under your supervision about the contents of this letter, in particular the need to ensure that the indicated procedure is followed in practice. They should also be instructed to continuously report to the Department for the Enforcement of Judgments and Probation any cases and reasons for the refusal to execute European Arrest Warrants by judicial authorities of other Member States, including refusals issued in connection with pre-trial proceedings,” the letter states.
A Ready-Made Template from the Director
Most remarkably, the ready-made template intended for judges was indeed attached to Director Raczkowski’s covering letter.
It is a multi-page form to be completed by the court, in which the court “provides a binding assurance” that the requested person will be detained exclusively in a facility meeting the required standards. Blank spaces were left for the name of the court, the case number, and the location – meaning that, in practice, the judge only has to fill in the details and sign the document.
The final paragraph of the ministry’s template even includes a ready-made conclusion:
“In light of the information and guarantees provided above, it should be concluded that there are no grounds for finding the existence of a real and individual risk of a violation of the requested person’s fundamental rights following their surrender to the Republic of Poland. Consequently, there are no grounds justifying the refusal to execute the European Arrest Warrant.”
The letter was sent to the presidents of all appellate courts with a request that it be forwarded down the judicial hierarchy to regional courts, together with instructions to apply the procedure in practice. Whether judges will regard it as a helpful model or as pressure on their judicial independence remains to be seen.