Poland informs European court it will not comply with order to reinstate judges

The Polish government has informed the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that it will not comply with an order to provisionally reinstate judges opposed to the government’s judicial policies. It is the first time in history that Poland has refused to comply with such an order.

The case in question concerns three judges from Warsaw’s court of appeal who refused to sit alongside colleagues who had been chosen by the National Judicial Council (KRS) – the body responsible for nominating judges – after it was overhauled by the government to give politicians greater control over the body.

Various rulings by Polish and European courts have found the new KRS to be illegitimate and legal experts say that rulings issued by judges nominated by it may be legally defective.

Subsequently, the president of Warsaw’s court of appeal – who is also Poland’s top disciplinary officer for judges and seen as an ally of the justice minister – forcibly reassigned the trio from the criminal department to the labour and social security department, despite them having 20-30 years of experience in criminal law.

The decision prompted 1,500 judges from across Poland to sign a letter in their defence, and the trio took their case to the ECHR. In December, the European court ordered their transfer to be provisionally reversed while it considers the case.

However, the president of the Warsaw court has ignored the ECHR’s interim measure, arguing that it is not binding on his court or him personally.

Yesterday, the ECHR announced that the Polish government itself has now informed the European court that “the interim measure…will not be respected” because “there were no factual or legal grounds for doing so”.

The government pointed to a March 2022 ruling by the Polish constitutional court – which is widely seen as being under the influence of the ruling party and has been found by Polish and European courts to currently not be a lawfully established body – that questioned the right of the ECHR to intervene in cases involving the judiciary.

“This is the first time that Poland has refused to comply with a Rule 39 interim measure in such cases,” noted the ECHR in yesterday’s statement.

The development marks a further twist in the long-running dispute over the rule of law in Poland under the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, which has been accused by various Polish and international bodies of undermining judicial independence.

The issue has led the EU to withhold billions of euros in pandemic recovery and cohesion funds from Poland, while it has also created chaos within the Polish legal system. Polling shows that a majority of the Polish public are opposed to the government’s reforms.

PiS, however, argues that its reforms have been carried out legally and that they have been necessary to make the justice system more accountable and effective.

Earlier this week, the European Commission launched new legal proceedings against Poland, claiming that its constitutional court violated European law by declaring the supremacy of the Polish constitution over it. Brussels also argues that the constitutional court itself is no longer a lawful body.

Main photo credit: Grzegorz Żukowski/Flickr (under CC BY-NC 2.0)

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.