It is impossible to build a state of lawlessness without the help of obedient lawyers – said Judge Igor Tuleya, member of the Association of Polish Judges Iustitia, on TVN24 on Wednesday. He commented on the report of the National Prosecutor's Office on the audit of proceedings during the period of the United Right government in 2016-2023. After analyzing 200 cases, the team revealed irregularities in 163 of them.
The National Prosecutor's Office's reservations concern, among others, the “two towers” cases, Beata Szydło's accident, the Kwaśniewski villa and the Lotos group. The report also contains recommendations regarding the need to initiate or resume proceedings, if possible, as well as the implementation of disciplinary or criminal liability towards prosecutors.
Judge Igor Tuleya commenting on the report on TVN24, he referred to the issue of disciplining the judiciary during the period when he was the Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro.
“Obedience was forced”
– Minister Ziobro created a system that was very helpful in putting pressure on judges and lawyers, because in addition to disciplinary prosecutors, we had court presidents brought in briefcases who also had the opportunity to make judges' lives miserable – he commented.
– It is impossible to build a state of lawlessness without the help of obedient lawyers, and this obedience was often forced by these disciplinary or criminal proceedings – he argued.
Tuleya also talked about the proceedings against judges and prosecutors who “betrayed their oath.” – Referring to the words of the former minister, Mr. Ziobro: there are no sacred cows. Everyone, regardless of whether they are a prosecutor, a judge or a politician, should be held accountable if they violate the law or act unethically, he said.
– Judges who acted unethically should face disciplinary action. And those who violated applicable law and committed crimes should be brought before a prosecutor and then before an independent court, he added.
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Tuleya: Minister Ziobro created a system that was very helpful to put pressure on judges
Tuleya on the “corruption of certain institutions”
When asked about the death of Zbigniew Ziobro's father, which is also the subject of the report, Tuleya said that “the state cannot be someone's private farm.” – This trial, or the proceedings that were conducted against Judge Pilarczyk, is a symbol of how corrupt certain institutions were and how deep therapy they require – he said.
After cumming PIS came to power in 2016, as a result of the involvement of the local department of the National Prosecutor's Office in Kraków in the case of Jerzy Ziobro's death, the trial was conducted as a public indictment, and the subsidiary prosecutors became auxiliary prosecutors. The change in regulations that enabled such conduct came into force already during the rule of the United Right. Doctors of the Jagiellonian University Hospital in Kraków, where Zbigniew Ziobro's father died, were accused in this case.
The trial before the district court since 2013 was conducted by Judge Agnieszka Pilarczyk from the District Court for Kraków-Śródmieście. Just before the end of the trial, the prosecutor requested the exclusion of Judge Pilarczyk in connection with the initiation of an investigation into the circumstances related to the commission of a supplementary expert opinion, which cost PLN 372,000.
Judge Tuleya also referred to the “two towers” case. – A strange situation, but also quite symptomatic of these times, which are hopefully over. Any person called as a witness should appear and testify. It is strange that the investigators who were then conducting the proceedings did not want to question these key figures. This clearly indicates some unfairness of these proceedings, he said.
On January 29, 2019, “Gazeta Wyborcza” published the first transcript of the recording of a conversation with the president of PiS. Jarosław Kaczyński and Austrian businessman Gerald Birgfellner, regarding plans to build two skyscrapers in Warsaw by the PiS-affiliated company Srebrna. Investigators suspected that the PiS president had committed a crime by failing to pay for placing an order with an Austrian businessman in connection with preparations for this construction. It was discontinued by the prosecutor's office supervised by Zbigniew Ziobro.
Main photo source: TVN24