- The Ordo Iuris Institute has prepared a legal opinion on the case of Dominik B., who is in pre-trial detention in connection with an investigation into the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves (RARS)
- The man is seriously ill and at risk of losing his sight. However, he is not receiving the necessary medical care in detention.
- Ordo Iuris points out in its opinion, sent to the prosecutor’s office in Katowice, that criminal proceedings cannot expose the suspect to a risk of serious damage to health. In the Institute’s view, Dominik B.’s pre-trial detention should be revoked.
Dominik B. has been in pre-trial detention since June 2025 in connection with an investigation into the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves, supervised by the Silesian Branch of the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice. The investigation is thus being conducted under the command of an illegitimate National Prosecutor acting under the EU-backed left-liberal government of Donald Tusk in the name of “restoring the rule of law.”
Concerning the case of Mr. Dominik B., according to publicly available press reports, he suffers from serious eye conditions. He can see only with one eye and is at risk of losing vision in the other. He requires constant specialist ophthalmological care, which cannot be provided in isolation, as none of the 85 medical facilities in Poland designated for temporary detention have an ophthalmology ward.
The Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture has prepared a legal opinion on the matter, which it submitted in late July to the National Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice. It concerns the assessment of compliance with international human rights standards, as well as constitutional and statutory guarantees of civil rights and freedoms, in the application of a preventive measure in the form of temporary detention against Dominik B. In this case, there is a so‑called negative procedural prerequisite for detention, as set out in Article 259 § 1(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (when depriving the suspect of liberty would pose a serious threat to their life or health).
As noted in the opinion, the objectives of criminal proceedings cannot be pursued at any cost, including by endangering the life and health of detainees, who, until a final judgment is issued, are not even certain to have committed the alleged offences. In the Ordo Iuris Institute’s view, the use of pre-trial detention against a person whose health is seriously endangered cannot be justified.
Citing the position of legal doctrine, Ordo Iuris recalls that the essence of the negative procedural prerequisite in Article 259 § 1(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure is rooted in the principle of humanitarianism, and that serious illness of a detainee is recognized in criminal procedure doctrine as a basis for revoking or modifying pre-trial detention. The Ordo Iuris Institute points to statutory and constitutional guarantees at the national level that reflect the principle of humanitarianism, requiring preventive measures — including the most severe, pre-trial detention — to be carried out humanely and prohibiting inhuman punishment.
Ordo Iuris also cites numerous international legal instruments that enshrine the principle of humanitarianism and prohibit inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment, as well as extensive case law from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The Court has ruled that keeping a person with a particularly severe disability in prison, in conditions unsuitable for their state of health, constitutes degrading treatment.
The Ordo Iuris Institute stresses that the serious threat to his health, in the form of total loss of sight, should lead to the revocation of the preventive measure of pre-trial detention imposed on him. In our view, Dominik B. should not remain in custody. Failure to act appropriately may violate both international and national law, infringe guarantees of civil rights and freedoms, and in the future expose the State Treasury to liability for damages.
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