Independence of the judiciary? Independence of the judges?
The Minister of Justice, Adam Bodnar, wants to put his people in charge of one of the most important courts in the Republic of Poland – the Warsaw Court of Appeals.
The difficulty is that the current president of the Court of Appeals in Warsaw – Judge Piotr Schab (who has been viciously attacked by some politicians and the media for years) has been managing this very court in an exemplary manner. This can be confirmed, among other things, by the post-audit statement issued only recently, by the Supreme Chamber of Control, after a long lasting examination of the activities of the president of the Court of Appeals in Warsaw. The President’s skillful management of the court is also confirmed by the support for Judge Piotr Schab expressed by the Board of the Court, which gave a negative opinion on his dismissal from the position of the Court President and thus halted the “blitzkrieg” conducted by the Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar.
However, the desperate supporters of the actions of the Minister of Justice from the government and the Association of Polish Judges ‘Iustitia’, disregarding the provisions of the law, are still keeping the President of the Court of Appeals suspended, despite the completion of the procedure of issuing an opinion on the appeal by the Board of the Court. In view of the negative opinion of the Board of the Court, the supporters of the Minister of Justice appealed to the “will of the people” by collecting signatures of the judges against Judge Piotr Schab, the President of the Court of Appeal in Warsaw.
To their chagrin, the support for the dismissal of the President of the Court of Appeals in Warsaw was expressed by only a half of the judges working in this particular court. With all the power of the Ministry of Justice, as well as the Association of Polish Judges ‘Iustitia’, this is a really poor outcome, as well as a strong blow to the credibility of the allegations made by the Minister of Justice against the President of the Court of Appeals in Warsaw.
This is how “restoring the independence of the courts and the independence of judges” looks like, according the new ruling coalition.
