Since July 12th all courts in Poland are under threat of being controlled by ruling party (PIS)

Posted by DanielS on Sunday, 16 July 2017 16:27.

Prof. Ewa Łętowska of Polish Academy of Sciences, explains in simple words, how PiS crushed the judiciary system in Poland.

OKO Press, “The end of independent judiciary in Poland. PiS government violates the Constitution and assumes control over all courts”, 15 July 2017:

The Law and Justice party (PiS), has been ruling in Poland for nearly two years, since the election in November, 2015 gave them a steady majority in the parliament. Yet it took them just one day to overturn the democratic order in the country once and for all. Since July 12th 2017 all courts in Poland are now under threat of being controlled by the ruling party

With two bills passed already by the lower house of the Polish parliament, and a third one awaiting the final vote, the rule of separation of powers has lost its validity in Poland.

From now on legislative, executive and judicial powers will be concentrated in the hands of one institution, which is Law and Justice government of Poland. More precisely in the hands of the Minister of Justice, Zbig Ziobro.

New pieces of legislation give him the right to appoint and dismiss practically all judges, including those at the Supreme Court. The new law goes as far, as to allowing him to hand-pick judges for particular court cases.

It is more than obvious, that these changes go in complete contradiction to The Constitution of Poland. Just like in the case of the late Constitutional Tribunal.

The civil society is not laying down its arms

New legislation caused an outrage in the entire country and was strongly objected by the opposition inside and outside of the parliament, non-governmental organizations, as well as the legal community.
The official statement of Helsinki Federation for Human Rights:

The draft law amending the Supreme Court Act, brought to the Parliament by the governing majority, is an attempt to introduce an unconstitutional change to the system of government of the Republic of Poland and contravene the principle of the separation of powers (Article 10 of the Constitution).

The termination of tenures of all the Court’s judges and granting the Minister of Justice a competence to single-handedly decide which judges will remain in office in this most important Polish court is tantamount to the revocation of the Supreme Court’s independence. Such a solution is applied only by the governments of authoritarian states.

An independent Supreme Court plays a key role in a democratic state ruled by law. Not only it exercises the supervision over common courts regarding rulings, but it also adjudicates upon the validity of the parliamentary and presidential elections.

The draft law on the Supreme Court deepens the Polish constitutional crisis, ongoing since November 2015. A day after the Act on the National Council of the Judiciary was amended, the governing majority strengthened the political influence on the administration of justice in Poland. This in consequence will lead to a situation when the basic human right to a fair trial by an impartial court becomes illusory.
The Official Statement of the Warsaw Bar Association of 13 July 2017 r.

Yesterday, at late-night hour a legislative proposal amending the Supreme Court Act (draft bill No. 1727) has been filed to the Sejm (the “Draft Bill”). On the same day the Draft Bill was referred for its first reading.

Article 87 sec. 1 of the Draft Bill states: „As of the day following the date of entry into force of this Act, all judges of the Supreme Court appointed in accordance with currently binding provisions of law, excluding judges selected by the Minister of Justice, shall be granted a retirement (stan spoczynku). As of the date of entry into force of this bill, the Minister of Justice, in his notification in the Official Journal of the Minister of Justice (obwieszczenie w dzienniku urzędowym Ministra Sprawiedliwości), shall designate judges of the Supreme Court who shall remain in active service, taking into account a necessity of introducing organizational changes resulting from the system change and maintaining continuity of works of the Supreme Court”.

According to Article 88 of the Draft Bill „If a Judge of the Supreme Court was granted a retirement under Article 87 sec. 1, tasks and competences of the First President of the Supreme Court shall be performed by the judge of the Supreme Court who is selected by the Minister of Justice”. According to Article 108 of the Draft Bill, its provisions shall enter into force within 14 days from the day of their official publication.

The above legislative proposal is a matter of an utmost concern. The draft provisions vest in the Minister of Justice – a representative of the executive power, an active politician and General Prosecutor who is superior to all prosecutors of the State – an unlimited power to appoint both, judges of the Supreme Court and the First President of the Supreme Court. The planned amendment to the law must be assessed as a clear violation of the principle of judicial independence, the principle of separation of powers and the democratic rule of law.

Warsaw Bar Association calls the Sejm for an immediate end to any further works on the Draft Bill, and authors of the Draft Bill for its withdrawal from any further legislative works.

The Draft Bill aims at depriving all citizens of right to independent and impartial judiciary guaranteed under Article 45 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and Article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

An impartial and independent judiciary is always a guarantee of an effective protection of each individual’s all rights and freedoms.

Report by Symon Grela

OKO.press is a non-profit, investigative journalism and fact-checking project created to preserve freedom of speech and secure access to information in Poland. Launched June 15, 2016, OKO.press became a widely recognised medium supported by unique community of readers. Human rights violation (esp. women and minorities), clamp on the rule of law, the destructive reform of education, the disastrous environmental policies, the threat to the civic society, including NGOs and the rise of xenophobia including the anti-immigrants rhetoric – are in the point of focus of OKO.press.

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Update: 20 July 2017, Poznan demonstration against the government coup.

Tags: European Nationalism, Free Speech, Law & Order

Comments:

Posted by Thousands protest coup against Polish constitution on Tue, 18 Jul 2017 16:49 | #

Euractiv, “Polish parliament starts debate on controversial Supreme Court reform bill”, 18 July 2017:

Thousands protest ‘coup against constitution’ in Poland

Thousands of Poles protested on Sunday (16 July) against the government’s attempts to secure full control over the judiciary. EURACTIV Poland’s editor-in-chief reports from Warsaw.

People participate in a protest at Freedom Square in Poznan, Poland, 16 July 2017. Members and supporters of opposition parties protested against changes in the judicial law and the Supreme Court. [Jakub Kaczmarczyk/ EPA]

State-controlled Polish TV instigated hate against Brussels journalist

Dorota Bawołek, a respected Brussels journalist, has been the target of hundreds of insulting and threatening messages on social media, after state-controlled Polish TV said she asked the European Commission politically motivated questions with intent “to harm Poland”.

Polish lawmakers have started debating a controversial bill on Supreme Court reforms, which opposition parties, the Polish Ombudsman and most legal experts say breaches the Polish constitution and may curb the independence of the judiciary.

Poland’s parliament, the Sejm, was turned into a fortress on Tuesday (18 July), cordoned off by railings and guarded by policemen in anticipation of mass protests.

The agenda of the last Sejm session before the summer break was changed at the last moment to introduce the first reading of the bill, which was only posted on the Sejm website last Wednesday night.

Together with two other bills – on the system of common courts and on the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) – it already prompted mass protests in major Polish cities on Sunday.

The three reforms will subordinate the Polish judiciary to the government, more precisely to Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro. Ziobro was already made a Prosecutor General in February 2016 and is the only Polish MP to have prosecutor’s rights.

Supreme Court reform

The Supreme Court reform envisages terminating the tenures of all its judges (article 87), unless Ziobro decides otherwise on an individual basis.

This would effectively terminate the constitutional separation of powers and deprive judges and courts of their independence, Supreme Court First President Małgorzata Gersdorf and Ombudsman Adam Bodnar told the parliament during the debate.

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), which has dismissed criticism from opponents and the EU that its policies threaten basic media freedom and civil liberties, says the aim of the reforms is to make the Supreme Court more accountable and efficient.

“You destroy Polish democracy!”

All opposition parties in parliament condemned the planned changes, saying they amounted to putting the judiciary under political control.

Former Justice Minister Borys Budka (MP for the main opposition party, Civic Platform) said the reform was proposed out of fear of losing the next elections – as only a politically subordinate Supreme Court would be able to annul electoral results if need be.

“You destroy Polish democracy, you trample separation of powers, you push Poland out of the EU and tear down your own authority. You murder Polish democracy!” Budka cried.

Rafał Trzaskowski, another MP for Civic Platform, said the reform would violate the rule of law premise from Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union and the European labour law, and possibly result in EU sanctions against Warsaw.

State-controlled Polish TV instigated hate against Brussels journalist

Dorota Bawołek, a respected Brussels journalist, has been the target of hundreds of insulting and threatening messages on social media, after state-controlled Polish TV said she asked the European Commission politically motivated questions with intent “to harm Poland”.

Posted by The PIS side of the story on Sun, 23 Jul 2017 02:40 | #

Being one who is skeptical of politics on an ordinary level, and therefore disposed to preoccupation with meta-politics, I am not following even the emerging controversy in Polish politics with a great deal of rigor; but rather am taking into consideration the opinions of those who are following these events.

I attended a protest on Thursday upon the advice of friends, after they pointed out the statement by Professor Letowska that PIS’s initiative would suspend the Polish constitution and its division of power.

The article below from The Visigrad Post presumes that PIS represents the only conservative alternative for Polish government and that therefore its assuming hegemonic control is necessary to ensure Polish conservatism and sovereignty. Friends tell me that presumption isn’t necessarily true - almost all Polish platforms are against immigration. Further, PIS is enmeshed with strict Catholicism (which in its underpinnings is not conservative, it is universal) and other right wing foibles; headed by Jarosław Kaczyński, who is tainted with beliefs that the downing of his brother’s jet was a conspiracy, not an accident; dubious appointments in military leadership.

Having said that, here is the PIS side of the story as presented by Visigrad Post:

Visigrad Post, “Polish Conservatives push for reform of justice”, 21 July 2017:

By Olivier Bault.

Poland – It was a promise and the project had been announced more than a year ago: the PiS is trying to quickly impose three major reforms of the Polish judicial system. The first concerns the appointment of presidents of ordinary courts throughout the country: the Minister of Justice, who is also the Attorney General, shall have more freedom in appointments and dismissals. The judges of the courts concerned will no longer have a say and the National Judicial Council (KRS) will be able to block appointments only by a two-thirds majority instead of an ordinary majority. Judges who are members of this KRS will no longer be nominated by the judicial institutions but will be chosen from among these judicial institutions by the Parliament, by a qualified majority of 3/5 (a condition imposed by President Andrzej Duda, in order to avoid that the KRS passes under the control of a political party). Judges of the Supreme Court will no longer be co-opted but appointed by the KRS. The new provisions also aim to prevent judges from obstructing disciplinary proceedings against their colleagues.

For the Law and Justice party, the challenge is to establish democratic control over the third power and to put an end to the corporatism of judges and the impunity enjoyed by judges guilty of political militancy, corruption or incompetence. It is also a question of finally purging the judicial institution of its judges and prosecutors who were already pronouncing judgments under the martial laws of the 1980s, and who put political opponents in prison. Some of such judges are even members the Supreme Court. In order to kick the anthill, the PiS goes even further, as it plans to shorten the mandate of its members in order to speed up its renewal, under the pretext of reorganizing the KRS and the Supreme Court.

As might be expected, this makes one part of the opposition (the same one that caused the parliament to freeze in December-January) use all possible means to block these three reforms. As in December, the Liberals call on the Poles to take to the streets, but with mixed success: at most a few thousand demonstrators in front of the Diet at the climax, but a few hundred or even a few tens most of the time. After the conflict over the Constitutional Court, the Liberal opposition claims that it is now under the control of the PiS and no longer guarantees impartial decisions on the constitutionality of laws, and the leaders of the liberal parties PO and Nowoczesna cry out to the dictatorship and are appealing once again to Brussels to block reforms they consider unconstitutional. As might be expected, the European Commission has been quick to intervene and is already exerting pressure even before these bills have been adopted in their final form. What is quite extraordinary is that some European Commissioners, first of all the First Vice-President of the Commission, the Dutch Socialist Frans Timmermans, seem to want to stand as judges of the Polish Constitutional Court since they issue opinions on the constitutionality of the bills debated by the Diet in Warsaw. It turns out that the Polish Constitution grants a large power to the parliament with regard to the organization of the judicial institution, which many foreign commentators seem to ignore, like Mr Timmermans, who, moreover, does not understand the Polish language and therefore necessarily has a superficial knowledge of the situation.

To block the adoption of these bills, the Liberal opposition has used all means this week: an unsuccessful attempt to physically block the work of the parliament as in December-January, a profusion of amendments (more than 1300 at the same time, rejected as a block by the PiS majority), calls on Brussels for an intervention… Thursday evening, after the adoption by the Diet of the bill on the Supreme Court, the Liberal opposition proclaimed the end of democracy , arguing that the independence of judges was now a fiction. An IBRiS poll carried out on 18-19 July for the newspaper Rzeczpospolita (favorable to the Liberal opposition) shows, however, that the cries of the liberals and the threats of Brussels do not convince a majority of Poles: the PiS is progressing by 3 points to 37%, Donald Tusk’s PO decreased by 2 points to 21% and Nowoczesna, the other liberal party, rose by 2 points to 9%.

Translated from French by the Visegrád Post.

Posted by Duda vetoes PIS judiciary take-over on Tue, 25 Jul 2017 18:25 | #

Vice News, “Poland’s president stopped a right-wing takeover of the court system”, 24 July 2017:

Poland’s president delivered a blow to the ruling right-wing party Monday by opposing a political takeover of the judiciary.

After days of protests, President Andrzej Duda vetoed two controversial bills Monday that would have allowed the Law and Justice party to replace all Supreme Court justices and have veto power in the selection of other judicial candidates.

The European Union threatened sanctions against Poland last week, saying the laws would undermine judicial independence.

The Law and Justice party, which backed Duda’s campaign in 2015, has adopted a nationalist, anti-immigrant agenda that has enabled far-right extremism in the country. Duda took office as an independent, but he had followed the Law and Justice party line until Monday’s vetoes.

“Poland badly needs reform of the judiciary, and I am a total supporter of this reform,” Duda said. “But I support a smart reform, such that will guarantee good functioning of the judiciary and such that will raise the sense of justice in Poland. As president, I feel deep in my soul — and so this is my decision and my responsibility — that this reform will not raise the sense of security and justice.”

Duda sent the bills back to Parliament, saying they should be revised in two months. The party doesn’t have enough lawmakers in Parliament to override the veto on its own.

Duda did approve a third law that gives the justice minister power to select the heads of lower courts.