Prosecutors Robert Hernand, Michał Ostrowski and Krzysztof Sierak filed a lawsuit in connection with the decision of the Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar to direct them to perform official duties in the Branches of the National Prosecutor's Office – said attorney Bartosz Lewandowski.
This concerns the decision of December 2024, according to which the Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar he sent three of his deputies to work in local departments of the National Prosecutor's Office dealing with organized crime. “The prosecutors general appointed by the previous prosecutors declare their consistent opposition to reforms,” explained PG spokeswoman Anna Adamiak at the time.
Ostrowski, Hernand and Sierak were deputy prosecutors general also when this function was held by the former minister of justice and prosecutor general, and currently PiS MP Zbigniew Ziobro.
READ MORE: Bodnar's deputies sent to new jobs. “We called on the prosecutor to change this decision”
Adam BodnarMarcin Obara / PAP
“Legal action will be taken”
On Friday, on Platform
In the opinion of the representative, in the light of the provisions of the Law on the Prosecutor's Office, “the Prosecutor General cannot make such decisions on the transfer of deputies, because it actually means preventing them from co-managing the Prosecutor's Office and dismissing them from this function without the written consent of the President of the Republic of Poland.” Lewandowski pointed out that, for example, prosecutor Ostrowski has to work in Wrocław, which requires him to travel almost 260 km to work a day without the possibility of applying for reimbursement of travel costs.
“In the coming days, due to Adam Bodnar's actions undertaken since January this year, further legal steps will be taken against his deputies,” Lewandowski announced.
Spokesperson of the Prosecutor General on Bodnar's decision
PG spokeswoman, prosecutor Anna Adamiak, argued in December that the Prosecutor General's deputies do not have “statutory, strictly defined competences, they act only with the authorization issued by the Prosecutor General.”
“This means that the Prosecutor General decides which of the deputies and what powers will be transferred. Moreover, the Law on the Public Prosecutor's Office (Article 3, paragraph t 1) indicates the Prosecutor General's Deputies as prosecutors who may carry out activities related to conducting proceedings, especially situations when the Prosecutor General does not delegate his own powers to them. Therefore, as prosecutors of the National Prosecutor's Office, deputies are entitled to perform official duties within the structure of the National Prosecutor's Office,” she explained. Proc. Adamiak added that Bodnar's decision does not mean that he will cease to be the superior of the three deputies.
“Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar's task of building an independent, depoliticized, efficient and professional prosecutor's office must be carried out in cooperation with prosecutors who share such a vision. This cooperation must be based on mutual trust and respect for the same values,” she stated then.
She added that the deputies, who were “appointed not by Adam Bodnar, but by the previous Prosecutors General, today openly manifest a completely different way of thinking about the prosecutor's office.” They declare consistent opposition to the reforms that take place as a result of the change in the position of the Prosecutor General after the elections on October 15, 2023. This makes it pointless for Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar to entrust them with his own powers,” the prosecutor said.
“In this situation, the only legally permissible form of work for the above-mentioned deputies is the performance of official duties as part of ongoing proceedings at the National Prosecutor's Office. Hence the decision of the Prosecutor General,” said prosecutor Adamiak in a December position sent to the Polish Press Agency.
Charges against Ostrowski and Sierak
Prosecutors Ostrowski and Sierak are to perform their duties in the so-called PZ-etach from March 3, 2025, and Hernand from February 3. Ostrowski in the Lower Silesian department in Wrocław, Hernand in the Masovian department in Warsaw, and Sierak in the Silesian department in Katowice. The basis for these referrals is, among others: art. 31 pairs 1 point 1 of the Law on the Public Prosecutor's Office, which states that the Prosecutor General is the superior of his deputies.
The National Prosecutor's Office previously informed that Prosecutor Ostrowski is charged with violating the dignity of the prosecutor's office, related to “rebellion” and questioning the change in the leadership of the prosecutor's office, and his case has been pending since June this year. in the Disciplinary Court at GUT. In turn, Prosecutor Hernand is charged with violating the dignity of the prosecutor's office for his behavior on January 12 this year when he recorded a conversation with Bodnar on the phone, which was related to the dismissal of Prosecutor Dariusz Barski from his position as Prosecutor General.
Main photo source: Marcin Obara / PAP