The disciplinary chamber of Poland’s Supreme Court has revoked the immunity of a judge, Beata Morawiec, against whom prosecutors want to bring corruption charges. It also ruled that she should be suspended from official duties and her salary cut by 50%.
Morawiec, however, rejects the legitimacy of the body that made the decision, which was set up as part of the government’s contested judicial overhaul. She has been a prominent critic of those policies, and says the allegations against her are “political”.
The Supreme Court itself ruled last year that the disciplinary chamber is “not a court within the meaning of EU and national law” and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ordered it to suspend all disciplinary proceedings against judges.
In response to the disciplinary chamber’s ruling against Morawiec, the European Association of Judges has criticised the decision and expressed its support for Morawiec.
Morawiec was president of the District Court in Kraków until she was dismissed by justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro in 2017, using new powers given to him to fire court presidents without providing justification.
The judge then sued Ziobro for an announcement published on the justice ministry’s website that suggested her dismissal was related to corruption at her court. She last year won a ruling in her favour, requiring Ziobro to publicly apologise to her, but he has appealed against it, reports Prawo.pl.
Subsequently, in September last year, the National Prosecutor’s Office – which is under the authority of Ziobro, who also serves as prosecutor general – filed a request to the disciplinary chamber of the Supreme Court for Morawiec’s immunity from prosecution to be waived.
Prosecutors want her to face charges of misappropriating public funds, activities detrimental to the public interest, abuse of power and accepting financial benefits. They claim, among other things, that she accepted bribes of 5,000 zloty (€1,100) and a mobile phone.
Yesterday, in a ten-hour hearing held behind closed doors, Adam Tomczyński, a judge of the disciplinary chamber, accepted the prosecutors’ request and ruled that Morawiec’s immunity should be lifted, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
He also suspended her from official duties and cut her salary by half. His decision is not yet binding and can be appealed.
Tomczyński noted that in making his judgement he was not seeking to determine whether Morawiec is guilty or not, but simply whether there is “justified suspicion of [her] committing a crime”. He found that there was enough evidence for this criterion to be met.
Morawiec, however, has rejected the authority of the disciplinary chamber to rule on her case. “It does not meet the requirements of a ‘court’ under national and European law,” she notes, pointing to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the chamber.
Morawiec did not appear before the chamber herself, and while it was deliberating yesterday she joined a demonstration by her fellow judges in support of her, reports Gazeta Wyborcza. “These attacks [on me] are part of a political game,” she told PAP last year.
Mimo pogody i wirusów – jesteśmy!
Wspieramy w tym ważnym dniu Panią Prezes Sędzię Beatę Morawiec i wierzymy, że prawda zwycięży! #muremzaSędziąBeatąMorawiec
Wraz z nami niezawodni przedstawiciele @JudgesSsp – dziękujmy ✌ pic.twitter.com/H0raYWDEs4— Themis Stowarzyszenie Sędziów (@ThemisSedziow) October 12, 2020
The European Association of Judges (EAJ) also published a statement yesterday “expressing its unbreakable solidarity to Judge Beata Morawiec and to all independent Polish judges”.
The EAJ called the disciplinary chamber a “bogus body” that is “not a court and cannot continue to act as one”. It noted that the CJEU has ruled that the chamber must suspend disciplinary proceedings.
The EAJ conceded that the proceedings against Morawiec are technically criminal, not disciplinary, but it said that the chamber’s decision yesterday includes “evident disciplinary sanctions” such as cutting her pay.
Poland’s commissioner for human rights, Adam Bodnar, has also expressed doubts about the actions of prosecutors in the case against Morawiec, notes PAP. In response to yesterday’s ruling, Bodnar advised her to file a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights.
“It must be shown that the ruling of the disciplinary chamber of the Supreme Court leads to ‘a risk of serious and irreparable harm of a core right under the [European] Convention [on Human Rights]’,” wrote Bodnar.
A government minister, Michał Wójcik, however, defended the case against Morawiec. She is accused of “very serious” crimes and “no one can stand above the law”, Wójcik told TVN24.
News: Statement of the EAJ on Judge Beata Morawiec (Poland) https://t.co/vSSJOfkFzy
— iaj-uim.org (@IajUim) October 12, 2020
Morawiec has been a prominent figure in protests by judges against the government’s judicial policies. She is president of a judges’ association, Themis, that has been at the forefront of that struggle.
Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, a legal newspaper, last year named Morawiec the 26th most influential legal professional in the country, saying that, without the actions of figures such as her, “the process of ploughing through the judiciary would have been much easier for the authorities”.
The government, however, argues that such judges are simply seeking to protect privileges that have allowed them to become a self-governing and unaccountable “caste” that fails to serve society. It says that their protests against judicial reform represent unacceptable political activity.
Main image credit: Jakub Porzycki / Agencja Gazeta
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
