On December 18, 2023, Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar made a decision to revoke the appointments of court presidents. The decision affects the following judges:
- Judge Jacek Szreder for the position of President of the Court of Appeals in Szczecin.
- Judge Stanisław Olchowy for the position of President of the District Court in Radom.
- Judge Bartosz Kamieniak for the position of President of the District Court in Lublin.
- Judge Paweł Siwek for the position of President of the District Court in Jelenia Góra.
- Judge Anna Gąsior-Majchrowska for the position of President of the District Court in Piotrków Trybunalski.
- Judge Wojciech Karwat for the position of President of the District Court in Radom.
All of the mentioned judges had previously been appointed as court presidents by the former Minister of Justice. Due to the ongoing terms of their predecessors, they had not yet assumed their functional roles, which formally allows the new Minister of Justice to revoke their appointments.
The judges will be individually informed of the main reasons behind this decision. The Ministry of Justice, however, emphasizes that all the individuals listed were selected as presidents by the previous Minister of Justice without the involvement of judicial self-governing bodies. This was made possible because in 2017, the law on the organization of common courts and certain other laws were amended, allowing for the appointment of court presidents and vice presidents in this manner.
In the coming days, the Minister of Justice will reach out to the general assemblies of judges at the Court of Appeals in Szczecin and the district courts to identify 2-3 candidates for the positions of presidents of these courts. The Minister of Justice would like the judicial communities themselves to nominate the best candidates for the positions, and these nominations will be the basis for the Minister of Justice’s decision.
The Ministry of Justice will also take legislative actions to restore the real influence of the judiciary on the appointment of managerial positions in the courts.
It is worth noting that the Venice Commission pointed out the involvement of judicial self-governing bodies in the selection of court presidents in its opinion dated December 11, 2017, No. 904/2017. Regarding the amendment to the law, it expressed a recommendation stating that “The decision of the Minister of Justice to appoint and dismiss court presidents should be previously approved by the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) or general assemblies of judges of the respective court, adopted by a simple majority vote. The best solution would be to present candidates for court presidents by the general assemblies of judges for approval by the Minister of Justice.”
In light of the above, the proposed solution aligns fully with the recommendations of the Venice Commission and will be applied by the incumbent Minister of Justice, with the hope that it will soon become a legal solution.
