The suspension of a judge who questioned the Polish government’s judicial reforms violated his rights, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled. It also found that the disciplinary chamber which issued the decision is “not lawful”, but the government says it has “no competence” to do so.
The case concerns Paweł Juszczyszyn, who had in 2019 been serving as a judge in Olsztyn regional court. At that time, he sent a request to parliament asking to see endorsement lists of candidates to the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), a body overhauled by the government to bring it under greater political control.
The KRS has been at the heart of disputes over the rule of law and judicial independence in Poland. Last year, the ECtHR itself found that the KRS is no longer independent of political influence, confirming a previous 2019 ruling by Poland’s own Supreme Court, which this year issued a further judgement against the KRS.
In November 2019, Juszczyszyn’s secondment to the regional court was terminated by the justice ministry, which said that his actions had “constituted inadmissible interference with the activities of constitutional organs” and argued that “no judge has the right to assess the status of another judge”.
Juszczyszyn was then suspended and disciplinary proceedings were brought against him. The disciplinary chamber of the Supreme Court – another contested body established (and recently closed) by the government – then found that Juszczyszyn’s suspension and 40% salary reduction were fully justified.
He remained suspended until May this year. After his reinstatement, he was then transferred against his will to a family and juvenile court.
Meanwhile, in 2020, Juszczyszyn lodged a case at the ECtHR, arguing that his rights under articles 6 (right to a fair trial), 8 (right to respect for private and personal life), and 18 (limitation on use of restrictions on rights) under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) had been violated.
In a ruling issued today, the ECtHR found that the Juszczyszyn’s rights had indeed been violated on all three counts. It ordered Poland to pay the judge €30,000.
The European court noted, in keeping with one of its previous rulings, that Poland’s disciplinary chamber had a “defective” process for appointing judges by the KRS, which “lacked independence”. There was also no recourse under Polish law to challenge decisions by the chamber.
Judgment Juszczyszyn v. Poland – Disciplinary Chamber not a lawful tribunal, suspension of civil-court judge for issuing judicial decision violated his rights https://t.co/8pkPqYL1AA#ECHR #CEDH #ECHRpress pic.twitter.com/pDOkXbaV8r
— ECHR CEDH (@ECHR_CEDH) October 6, 2022
Because the disciplinary chamber was “not a tribunal established by law”, Juszczyszyn’s right to a fair trial had been violated, found the ECtHR.
In its statement, the ECtHR also recalled its previous finding that “the changes made to the judicial system in Poland had had the aim of weakening judicial independence”.
It also ruled that the length of Juszczyszyn’s suspension and the associated questioning of his competence and integrity “must have affected his private life to a very significant degree”, thereby violating his rights under article 8 of the ECHR.
Finally, the ECtHR found that the decision to discipline Juszczyszyn had been “contrary to the fundamental principles of judicial independence and the rule of law”.
Its “predominant purpose [had been] sanction[ing] him and dissuad[ing] him from assessing the status of judges appointed” by the new KRS. This was a violation under article 18 of the ECHR.
In response, Adam Bodnar, Poland’s former commissioner for human rights, noted that this was the first such ruling against Poland in the European court’s history and effectively meant “a direct indication by the ECtHR that legal procedures were instrumentally used to achieve political goals”.
However, the Polish government’s spokesman, Piotr Müller, rejected the ECtHR’s ruling, arguing that it “has no compentence to rule on whether a court is a court or not”, which is an “autonomous issue” for states to decide, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
Naruszenie art. 18 Konwencji – bezpośrednie wskazanie przez ETPCz, że procedury prawne były instrumentalnie wykorzystywane do osiągnięcia celów politycznych. Pierwsza taka sprawa z Polski w historii Trybunału w Strasburgu. #Juszczyszyn
— Adam Bodnar (@Adbodnar) October 6, 2022
Today’s ruling is the latest in a series by the ECtHR that have gone against Poland. In June, the court ruled that the Polish authorities had sought to “intimidate” a judge critical of judicial reforms by removing him from his position.
In March, it found that Poland violated a judge’s rights by prematurely ending his mandate. Last year it ruled that the country’s constitutional court is not a “tribunal established by law” because it contains a judge illegitimately appointed as part of the government’s judicial policies.
The Polish government, however, has rejected such findings, arguing that its far-reaching reforms of the judiciary have been both necessary and legal, and suggesting that European institutions are targeting it for political reasons.
Main image credit: Dawid Zuchowicz / 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.
