Tag: Law and Justice

The Internal Security Agency detained Bartosz Kramek on the order of the District Prosecutor’s Office in Lublin. “We regard this as another act of political persecution of the Foundation by institutions subordinated to the PiS party,” commented the Open Dialogue Foundation. The Foundation has announced that Bartosz Kramek was detained on June 23 by order […]

The Provincial Administrative Court ordered the Head of the Office for Foreigners to produce a substantive assessment of the rationale behind the entry ban instated on Lyudmyla Kozlovska.Thus, the Law and Justice (PiS) government suffered its third defeat in court in its dispute with the President of the Open Dialogue Foundation before the Provincial Administrative Court […]

Following our support of the Resolution on the independence of judges, adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on January 26th, ODF became a target for representatives of the Polish PiS government, whose actions were harshly criticised in the Resolution. PiS MP Arkadiusz Mularczyk, supported by British Conservative Ian Liddell-Grainger, initiated a […]

On 4 March 2021 we organised an online hearing for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), European Parliament advisors and selected journalists under the title “Law and Justice’s Crackdown on Independent Prosecutors in Poland Intensifies”, featuring persecuted Polish independent prosecutors from the Lex Super Omnia association – Katarzyna Kwiatkowska, Jacek Bilewicz and Ewa Wrzosek – […]

On 4 March 2021 we organised an online hearing for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), European Parliament advisors and selected journalists under the title “Law and Justice’s Crackdown on Independent Prosecutors in Poland Intensifies”, featuring persecuted Polish independent prosecutors from the Lex Super Omnia association – Katarzyna Kwiatkowska, Jacek Bilewicz and Ewa Wrzosek – […]

Joanna Lichocka has filed a private lawsuit against Marcin Mycielski and Bartosz Kramek (Spontaniczny Sztab Obywatelski), who organised an online campaign to raise funds for the erection of billboards. The billboards featured an image of the MP with a description suggesting that her gesture was aimed at people suffering from cancer. The charge sheet alleges […]

On 28 January 2021, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on judges in Poland and the Republic of Moldova. The resolution, resulting from ODF’s advocacy efforts back in 2018, urges the countries’ authorities to uphold the rule of law and ensure judicial independence. Prior to passing the resolution the Assembly voted on a series of amendments. Three out of five of the amendments that ODF’s team has helped to draw up and advocated for, further detailing the Polish government’s rule of law breaches, were accepted by an overwhelming majority.

Another victory for the Open Dialogue Foundation – Telewizja Polska S.A. was forced to remove from its website some of the materials that violated our personal rights and to post statements about our lawsuit, which publication was ordered by the District Court in Warsaw. TVP has thereby complied with the court order giving us temporary relief […]

The tumultuous year 2020 is coming to an end. It is time to sum up what we have managed to do in the fight for the rule of law in Poland. The pandemic was not an easy time – forced austerity and accelerated adaptation to new conditions. We closed our offices and moved our democracy […]

“Joanna Lichocka is said to have received “dozens of death threats and demands that she resign her parliamentary seat”. This is all the result of the billboards with “Lichocka’s gesture” believes the law firm representing the MP and demanding an apology for this,” reads wyborcza.pl. Lawyers representing Lichocka have contacted the organisers of the billboard […]

MP Joanna Lichocka is demanding an apology from the organisers of a public fundraiser that resulted in several hundred billboards showing her vulgar gesture being put up across the country. “The MP has ended her political and media quarantine and decided to remind Poles of her friendly greeting,” respond the organisers of the fundraiser. Recall: […]

Since the Law and Justice party (PiS) came to power in 2015, the Polish authorities purposefully obstruct access to information – either by refusing to provide information, delays in responding or delivering incomplete information. This both unconstitutional and undemocratic practice is yet another example of Poland going rogue under the PiS leadership, stated our advocacy officer, Katarzyna Szczypska, at the Second Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting (SHDM), and urged the OSCE bodies to take a firm stance and discipline the Polish authorities to comply with the organisation’s principles.

On Monday, June 22nd, less than a week before the first round of the Polish presidential election, our colleague Martin Mycielski was a guest on a special edition of the Europa United Eurochat podcast. The episode was entirely focused on the upcoming election, so after a few questions about ODF and our work Martin dove into the history of the office of the President and its former holders, to then give an overview of the current candidates, their views and chances.

Polish President Andrzej Duda’s focus on the “LGBT threat” is a retreat to a well-used trope ahead of the presidential elections. But will it work, asks Martin Mycielski.

Today, on June 9, 2020, the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court is holding a closed hearing regarding lifting the immunity of judge Igor Tuleya. This and other glaring violations of ECJ judgements and EU law have compelled the world’s leading legal scholars to sign a follow-up letter by ODF and Prof. Laurent Pech to the European Commission regarding the deterioration of the rule of law in Poland.