The Ministry is clinging to its own narrative about the possibility of dismissing disciplinary spokespeople despite the lack of legal grounds. A bizarre letter to court presidents.

In April this year, we reported on how the Ministry of Justice, led by Adam Bodnar, attempted to dismiss Judge Przemysław Radzik from the position of Deputy Disciplinary Ombudsman for Judges of Courts of General Jurisdiction and, shortly thereafter, Judge Piotr Schab from the position of Disciplinary Ombudsman for Judges of Courts of General Jurisdiction.

Both attempts had one thing in common: the lack of any legal basis for the Minister’s actions. As we pointed out at the time, Article 112 § 3 of the Law on the System of Common Courts provides only that the Disciplinary Ombudsman for Judges of Common Courts and two Deputy Disciplinary Ombudsmen for Judges of Common Courts shall be appointed by the Minister of Justice for a four-year term, but is silent on the subject of dismissal. Minister Bodnar himself was also aware of this fact – the official communications of the Ministry stated that:

the provisions of the Act on the System of Common Courts donot provide for any possibility of early termination of their term of office, even in the event of serious allegations, criminal offences or loss of integrity.

or:

the provisions of the Act on the System of Courts of General Jurisdiction do not regulate the reasons for the expiry of a term of office before its expiry.

In view of the above, the Minister’s action, as grossly contrary to the principle of legality (Article 7 of the Constitution – Public authorities shall act on the basis of and within the limits of the law), cannot have legal effects. This has been pointed out by a number of legal authorities, including, in particular, the First President of the Supreme Court, Professor Małgorzata Manowska. The President of the Ordo Iuris Institute, Jerzy Kwaśniewski, stated that:

any reasonably intelligent lawyer understands perfectly well that the lack of a possibility of appeal guarantees the independence of this office.

However, the most far-reaching position was taken by the National Council of the Judiciary, which notified the prosecutor’s office of the possibility that Minister Bodnar had committed the offence of exceeding his powers (Article 231 § 1 of the Criminal Code: A public official who, by exceeding his powers or failing to fulfil his duties, acts to the detriment of the public or private interest, shall be subject to imprisonment for up to 3 years).

Despite all the above appeals, the Minister unfortunately decided not to revise his position and to continue violating the law. Yesterday (11 June 2025), the association ‘Sędziowie RP’ (Judges of the Republic of Poland) published on its profile on platform X the content of a letter sent on 10 June by the Department of Administrative Supervision of the Ministry of Justice to the presidents of all Appeal, Regional and Disciplinary Courts in Poland.

⬇️ @MS_GOV_PL usilnie próbuje przekonać 🇵🇱 sędziów o skuteczności tzw. "odwołania" rzeczników dyscyplinarnych @PiotrSchab25737 i @ZRDSSP_Radzik‼️Przestrzegamy Państwa Sędziów, iż oba stanowiska są obsadzone i nie wakują, a decyzje @Adbodnar nie wywołały żadnych skutków 🥁 pic.twitter.com/mpo95KhUJt

— SędziowieRP (@sedziowierp) June 11, 2025

In this letter, the Ministry firmly stands by its position, arguing that the interpretation adopted by the Ministry, according to which, since no provision authorises the Minister to dismiss the Ombudsman (and his deputy), the Minister may do so anyway, is ‘pro-constitutional’. Furthermore, the Ministry claims that the inability to dismiss the Ombudsmen would be contrary to, among other things, the principle of legality.

However, it is precisely the Ministry’s action that is clearly contrary to the Constitution, in particular to the (above-mentioned) principle of legality!

The letter also contains other peculiar passages, such as the following:

It should be noted that the dismissal of the above-mentioned [Disciplinary Ombudsman and his deputy] from their positions, as a result of losing their legitimacy to effectively perform their functions, was intended to cause these persons […] to immediately (even immediately) [sic!] cease to perform these functions. Maintaining a situation in which judges Piotr Schab and Przemysław W. Radzik continue to perform their functions would be contrary to the essence of their dismissal.

It is difficult to say why such a passage was included in the letter. The Ministry’s intention was clear from the outset and no one questioned it. What was and is being questioned, however, is the Minister’s competence to translate this intention into a valid legal act. To paraphrase the above passage from the letter, it should be stated once again clearly and unequivocally that:

Bringing about a situation in which judges Piotr Schab and Przemysław W. Radzik would cease to perform their functions as a result of the actions of the Minister, who has no legal basis for doing so, would be contrary to the essence of the principle of legality!

It is to be hoped that the Presidents of the Courts – especially thosewho did not assume these functions in a legally flawed manner – will not bow to the unlawful demands of the Ministry and will not comply with the appeal expressed in the letter.

Image source: Adobe Stock.