President Andrzej Duda is not a legal authority for me. I do not attach importance to his political statements, said national prosecutor Dariusz Korneluk on TVN24.
Last Friday, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court ruled that the reinstatement and appointment of Dariusz Barski as national prosecutor in 2022 had a binding legal and constitutional basis and were legally effective. The resolution was adopted by judges selected with the participation of the neo-National Council of the Judiciary, in response to a question submitted by the Gdańsk district court.
The current national prosecutor, Dariusz Korneluk, took up the position after it was found that Barski's earlier nomination for this position was defective. Barski believes that he is still the national prosecutor.
Korneluk: no one dismissed me, I am a national prosecutor
Korneluk was a guest of “One on One” on TVN24 on Friday. He stated that the Supreme Court's position from last Friday “does not produce any legal effects.” In his opinion, the decision was made by people who are not judges. – I would like to emphasize in particular that this position of the Supreme Court from Friday does not apply to me in any way – he added.
– In March, the Prime Minister entrusted me with the duties of the national prosecutor. No one dismissed me from this position, so I hold this position – he added.
Korneluk: the president is not a legal authority for me
Asked if the president Andrzej Dudawho invited Dariusz Barski as the “national prosecutor”, is a “legal authority”, replied: – He is certainly not my legal authority, but his teachers are the legal authority, just like my teachers, because we passed each other at the university and we had common teachers.
– I respect them very much and unfortunately today these teachers, the former first president of the Supreme Court, the former president of the Constitutional Tribunal say that the president has repeatedly violated the constitution. He cannot be a legal authority for me, absolutely not – he emphasized.
As he said, he and prosecutors in the country “work very intensively.” – The president's statements are strictly political statements. I can honestly say that – due to what I have already said – for me personally they have absolutely no importance. I don't attach importance to it, he added.
Main photo source: Radek Pietruszka/PAP