Standoff at Polish judicial council as police and prosecutors enter seeking to secure documentation

A prosecutor accompanied by police today entered the headquarters of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), the state body tasked with nominating judges and which is at the heart of the rule-of-law dispute between the current government and its Law and Justice (PiS) predecessor.

Figures associated with PiS have accused the authorities of violating judicial independence. However, prosecutors note that their activities have nothing to do with the KRS itself but are rather aimed at securing documentation from officials who occupy premises in the same building.

The situation has resulted in a standoff, with the head of the KRS saying that she does not give permission for the police and prosecutors to enter the premises.

KRS poinformował prokuratora, że nie wyraża zgody na prowadzenie jakichkolwiek czynności. W budynku cały czas obecna jest policja i nieumundurowani funkcjonariusze.@RepublikaTV pic.twitter.com/BhRRAOWdRu

— Michał Jelonek (@MichalJelonek) July 3, 2024

Shortly after 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the KRS announced that a prosecutor accompanied by police had entered their building unannounced and was demanding access to documentation belonging to judicial disciplinary officers.

Those disciplinary officers – Piotr Schab and his two deputies, Przemysław Radzik and Michał Lasota – are controversial figures appointed under the former PiS government and who were seen as a key part of efforts to bring judges under greater political control.

Anna Adamiak, a spokeswoman for Adam Bodnar, who serves as both prosecutor general and justice minister, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that there had been no attempt to enter the headquarters of the KRS itself, only premises that the KRS rents to the disciplinary officers.

She noted that the attempt to secure documentation from those premises was part of criminal proceedings relating to allegations that the three disciplinary officials had exceeded their powers. It “absolutely does not concern the activities and functioning of the KRS”, she added.

Aktualna sytuacja w @KRS_RP pic.twitter.com/9iq8XsCT7x

— Dagmara Pawełczyk-Woicka (@DPawelczykW) July 3, 2024

Gazeta Wyborcza, a leading liberal daily, reports that the criminal proceedings against the trio relate to the fact that they have refused to hand over case files to new disciplinary officials appointed by Bodnar to replace them.

Adamiak also told PAP that Schab, Radzik and Lasota had continued to conduct proceedings despite their powers expiring after Bodnar had appointed replacements. She insisted that today’s action by police and prosecutors was taking place “legally and legitimately”.

However, Radzik told conservative news website wPolityce that they “do not want to release these documents due to formal deficiencies in the application for their release”.

Schab said that the authorities were undertaking “criminal and thuggish actions” with “absolutely no legal basis” that were timed to take advantage of the fact he is currently on holiday. “This is Bolshevism,” he added.

👆Dlaczego prokuratorzy POSZUKUJĄ AKT dyscyplinarek sędziów w BIURZE RZECZNIKÓW DYSCYPLIN. w siedzibie KRS⁉️Dlatego że p.Schab,Lasota,Radzik-
NIELEGALNIE przetrzymują akta 30 spraw.Trwa w tej spr. śledztwo w zakresie złamania art. kodeksu karnego:231,268,276👆Koniec chowania akt

— Krzysztof Kwiatkowski (@Kwiatkowski2011) July 3, 2024

Meanwhile, two opposition MPs – former deputy justice minister Sebastian Kaleta and Dariusz Matecki – arrived at the KRS to express their opposition to the actions of the authorities.

“This is an unprecedented attack on judicial independence,” Kaleta told conservative broadcaster wPolscePL. “This is about Adam Bodnar and his team wanting to intimidate the judges of the National Council of the Judiciary.”

The head of the KRS, Dagmara Pawełczyk-Woicka, also said she had demanded that police and prosecutors leave the premises. She told conservative news website Niezależna that Schab had communicated to her that he does not give permission for documents to be handed over without his presence.

However, Adamiak, the prosecutor general’s spokeswoman, said her in statement that the presence of Schab and the other officials being investigated is not required for the documentation to be secured.

Na miejscu w siedzibie @KRS_RP są posłowie Zjednoczonej Prawicy‼️@sjkaleta: „Jest to niespotykany atak na niezawisłość sędziowską. Ta czynność prowadzona w takim trybie jak dzisiaj jest dowodem na to, że Bodnar zmierza do zastraszenia polskich sędziów”#WPolsce #KRS… pic.twitter.com/tEAuWYCKHH

— Telewizja wPolsce.pl 🇵🇱 #PilnujemyPolski (@wPolscepl) July 3, 2024

The KRS has been at the heart of the dispute over the rule of law in Poland. The former PiS government reformed the KRS to give politicians, rather than judges themselves, influence over it, and therefore over the nomination of judges.

Both Polish and European court rulings have found the KRS to no longer be a legitimate body as a result of PiS’s reforms. That, in turn, has called into question the validity of the thousands of judges appointed through it after those reforms.

When PiS lost power in December 2023, the new coalition government, led by Donald Tusk, pledged to “depoliticise” the KRS. In April, its parliamentary majority approved legislation to undo PiS’s reforms. However, it faces a likely veto from PiS-aligned President Andrzej Duda.

Parliament has approved a bill aimed at restoring the independence of the body responsible for nominating judges.

The former PiS government’s move to bring it under political control was at the heart of the rule-of-law crisis that emerged during its rule https://t.co/OnAUV5RDQS

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 13, 2024

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Main image credit: MichalJelonek/X (screenshot)

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.