The board of the Gdańsk court almost unanimously issued a negative opinion on the motion by Minister of Justice Waldemar Żurek to dismiss the Vice President of the District Court in Gdańsk (SO) and the President of the Regional Court Gdańsk-Południe (SR). Interestingly, the board already includes appointees of the former head of the Ministry of Justice (MS), Adam Bodnar. This marks a spectacular defeat for Żurek, who argued that the judicial community itself demanded these personnel changes. It turns out he was wrong.
Waldemar Żurek – who took over as Minister of Justice following the government reshuffle, replacing Adam Bodnar – declared last week that his priority would be restoring the rule of law in Poland. On personnel matters related to the functioning of the MS and the judiciary, Żurek stated that he had revoked the secondments of nine judges to the Ministry of Justice who had signed letters to the neoNCJ (neoKRS) or are considered “neo-judges.” For the same reasons, 46 court presidents and vice presidents were also suspended. According to the minister, these individuals “will lose their positions.”
The Ministry of Justice published a full list of names of presidents and vice presidents of common courts for whom, on July 30 and 31 – Wednesday and Thursday – the minister initiated dismissal procedures and requested the opinion of Court Boards. Simultaneously, he suspended those presidents and vice presidents from their duties.
Żurek’s failure in Gdańsk
The opinion of a court board should be binding for the Minister of Justice. And here, Waldemar Żurek might be in for an unpleasant surprise.
As the portal niezalezna.pl has learned, during today’s Board of the District Court in Gdańsk, the ministry’s motions were almost unanimously rejected – by a vote of 10 to 1. These motions concerned the dismissal of Przemysław Jasinkiewicz, Vice President of the District Court in Gdańsk, and Tomasz Jabłoński, President of the Regional Court Gdańsk-Południe. The court board consists of the presidents of the district court and regional courts from the jurisdiction of the given SO. In this case, the Gdańsk board already included appointees of the previous Minister of Justice from the December 13 coalition government, Adam Bodnar.
In the coming days, boards will convene in other courts, and their outcomes may not align with the expectations of the head of the Ministry of Justice.