Several NGOs, Radio Wolna PL (Free Poland), Themis Judges Association and more than 30 public figures have submitted a public appeal to the Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar. The signatories draw attention to the need for a “fair, transparent and comprehensive review of politically motivated criminal proceedings” initiated during Zbigniew Ziobro’s days as Prosecutor General.
The statement dated 29 November 2024 is addressed to Professor Adam Bodnar in his capacity as Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General, Dariusz Korneluk in his capacity as National Public Prosecutor, and Prosecutor Katarzyna Kwiatkowska in her capacity as Chair of the Team of Prosecutors to investigate cases of public interest due to their nature and subject matter that were conducted and completed between 2016 and 2023.
The authors of the statement start by thanking Minister Bodnar for the actions taken so far. At the same time, they point out that, in their opinion, the reform of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the proceedings it conducts are progressing too slowly.
“Proceedings in which excessive ‘charge stacking’ was committed can be discontinued and indictments withdrawn at the judicial stage. The existing state of the law allows this, and this need is determined by the realities and challenges of the current transition period. On the other hand, the argumentation contained, among other places, in the Minister’s recent interview with Forbes magazine that seems to go in the opposite direction does not seem coherent. Waiting idly for court decisions would defeat the purpose of the review process and the declarations you made earlier. It would also — against the backdrop of a hugely overburdened justice system and problems with so-called ‘neo-judges’ — often entail waiting for years for legally flawless and final judgements, entangling those wronged by the actions of the Prosecutor’s Office in an essentially endless battle with the system. Justice delayed this long is fundamentally flawed,” the appeal reads.
Law and Justice officials with “no criminal liability”
The authors of the appeal highlight what they claim to have been the insufficient official supervision of prosecutors. “We believe that the independence of prosecutors, so often spoken of by the Minister and the new leadership of the Prosecutor’s Office, cannot in the current situation be treated as a fetish paralysing efforts to restore the rule of law and justice. Viable reform proposals for the depoliticisation of the Prosecutor’s Office will be implemented, we hope, after the change of President of the Republic of Poland and the unblocking of the legislative process, but the so-called transitional justice should be governed by its own laws. This is fully mandated by the unprecedented and systemic nature of the violations of the law, its instrumental and malicious application under the PiS government. There is no doubt that in a huge number of cases, the Public Prosecutor’s Office acted in bad faith following the instructions of the previous government,” write the signatories of the statement.
They also point out that “the total impunity of the leading representatives of the Law and Justice (PiS) government, responsible for long-standing violations of human rights and the rule of law in Poland, allows them to weave tall tales also in the European and international forums”. They cite the names of former ministers in the United Right government. “MEPs such as Mariusz Kamiński, Maciej Wąsik or Patryk Jaki, as well as former minister Zbigniew Ziobro, bear no real criminal responsibility, while at the same time posing as victims of the allegedly illegal and criminal system headed by minister Adam Bodnar,” stress the signatories.
Changes in the Prosecutor’s Office are too superficial
They are also concerned at the way the Ministry and the Prosecutor’s Office respond to their enquiries and requests for public information. “In fact, the responses received from the Public Prosecutor’s Office after many weeks look more like attempts to avoid the answer than to give one. They are also saturated with bureaucratic newspeak, which is difficult to interpret rationally, and which gives the impression of a clumsy explanation for the inaction or helplessness of the prosecutors, rather than a transparent and complete report to citizens on the work done,” they explain.
They also highlight what they consider to be inadequate personnel changes in the Prosecutor’s Office. “Another controversial and incomprehensible phenomenon is the superficial personnel changes in the Public Prosecutor’s Office. In many cases, the previous case-handlers, who investigated politically motivated cases during the rule of the Law and Justice Party, continue doing so,” the statement reads. The lack of personnel changes results in ineffective reviews of previous activities.
“We want our position to come out strongly: prosecutors who do not inspire public confidence must not conduct controversial and questionable investigations. Major procedural decisions to the detriment of suspects, such as filing new indictments, should not be made in the cases under review until the said review is completed. All investigations reported so far by community organisations should be included in the review,” they write at the end of their appeal, pointing out examples of specific investigations and individuals whose cases should be of personal interest to Adam Bodnar.
The full text of the appeal can be found on the website of the Open Dialogue Foundation.
The statement was signed by:
Shadow of the Mist: Grassroots Support of the Women’s Strike
Asymetryści Foundation
Basta Foundation
Lambda Poland Foundation
Fundacja Miejsce na Ziemi (Place on Earth Foundation)
Open Dialogue Foundation
Citizens of Poland
Podlaskie Ochotnicze Pogotowie Humanitarne (POPH) (Podlasie Voluntary Humanitarian Aid (POPH))
Polish Business Council
Radio Wolna PL Radio station
Homokomando Association
Poland Fighting Against Fascism Association
Themis Judges Association
Władysław Bartoszewski Square Association
with
Marek Belka, former Prime Minister of Poland, former Minister of Finance, former President of the National Bank of Poland
Andrzej Blikle, professor at IPI PAN and Member of Academia Europaea
Michał Boni, former Minister for Digitalisation and Member of the European Parliament
Zbigniew Bujak, opposition activist in the Polish People’s Republic, former Head of the Customs Service
Barbara Czerniawska, social activist
Michał Dadlez, professor at the Polish Academy of Sciences and the University of Warsaw
Angelika Domańska, social activist
Jacek Dubois, lawyer
Lubomir Fajfer, President of the Movement of Independent Youth Association, Secretary of the Council for Anticommunist Opposition Activists and Victims of Oppression due to Political Reasons
Władysław Frasyniuk, opposition activist in the Polish People’s Republic, former Chairman of the Freedom Union
Agnieszka Holland, film and theatre director
Krystyna Janda, actress
Zbigniew Janas, democratic opposition activist in the Polish People’s Republic, former MP and Chairman of the Board of the Stefan Batory Foundation
Anna Kacprzyk, psychologist
Jacek Kapica, former Deputy Minister of Finance and former Head of the Customs Service
Jarosław Kurski, former first deputy editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza
Marek Męczyński, Podlasie Voluntary Humanitarian Rescue Service
Karolina Mazurek, Podlasie Voluntary Humanitarian Rescue Service
Wawrzyniec Mąkinia, Podlasie Voluntary Humanitarian Rescue Service
Janina Ochojska, Founder of Polish Humanitarian Action
Janusz Onyszkiewicz, former Minister of Defence and Member of the European Parliament
Maciej Pisuk, writer and screenwriter
Andrzej Rojek, Chairman of the Board of the Jan Karski Educational Foundation, Vice Chairman of the Board of the Kosciuszko Foundation, POLIN Museum
Paula Sawicka, social activist, former chairperson of the program board at Open Republic (Otwarta Rzeczpospolita), POLIN Museum
Grażyna Staniszewska, former Senator and Member of the European Parliament
Leszek Ścioch, Podlaskie Ochotnicze Pogotowie Humanitaritarne
Magdalena Środa, philosopher, Professor at the University of Warsaw
Tomasz Ulatowski, POLIN Museum
Przemysław Wiszniewski, journalist, board member of Open Republic (Otwarta Rzeczpospolita)
Jerzy Wójcik, former Publishing Director, Gazeta Wyborcza, Media Liberation Fund Foundation
Damian Wutke, social activist
Krzysztof Zakrzewski, legal adviser, managing partner at the law office “Domański, Zakrzewski, Palinka”
Source: onet.pl
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