Michał Dworczyk said that he understood PiS MP Marcin Romanowski, who fled to Hungary, believing that in Poland “there is no chance for a fair trial.” He mentioned “excluding and adding” judges who would rule on Romanowski's arrest as a reason. We remind you of the calendar of events.
On December 30, 2024, MEP of Law and Justice, former head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Michał Dworczyk, was a guest of the “Rozmowa Piaseckiego” program on TVN24. One of the main topics was the case of PiS MP Marcin Romanowski who fled to Hungary. The former deputy minister of justice in the United Right government, who is a suspect in the investigation into the Justice Fund, was granted political asylum in Hungary on December 19. Also on December 19, the District Court in Warsaw announced the issuance of a European arrest warrant for this politician.
Michał Dworczyk, asked about Romanowski's decision to apply for asylum in Hungary, he admitted that “it was a surprise to him.” But he added: “However, I understand that he assesses the situation in Poland today in such a way that there is no chance for a fair trial and this is proven by the facts from the recent past, i.e. everything that is happening around the Justice Fund, the change of judges, who were selected to adjudicate or make decisions in his case – he decided that there was no chance for a fair trial here today and that is why he chose this path.
Konrad Piasecki replied that the judges were “not entirely precise” as the MEP said. “There was one case or one court ruling in which judges were randomly selected because they were afraid that they would be excluded, and this actually happened. Out of three randomly selected judges, two were excluded, so one…” – explained Piasecki, but Dworczyk interrupted: “… Excluding, adding. I would like to remind you earlier that in this case, as far as Father O. is concerned, the decision was made by a judge who was previously a deputy minister in Donald's government. Tusk”.
What did Dworczyk talk about in the case of Marcin Romanowski? We are reminding.
Charges against Romanowski in connection with the Justice Fund
National Prosecutor's Office accuses Romanowski, who as a politician of Sovereign Poland (former name: Solidarna Polska) was the deputy head of the Ministry of Justice supervising the Justice Fund in the years 2019-2023, committed 11 crimes, including participation in an organized criminal group and fixing competitions for money from this fund. These crimes were to include, among other things, “indicating entities subordinated to employees that should win competitions for subsidies from the Justice Fund.” Romanowski also allegedly ordered corrections of erroneous offers before submitting them and allowed grants to be awarded to entities that did not meet formal and material requirements. The charges also concern “the misappropriation of property entrusted to the suspect in the form of money in the total amount of over PLN 107 million and attempted misappropriation of money in the amount of over PLN 58 million.”
“The prosecutor sees the need to supplement the charges against Mr. Marcin Romanowski with another seven very serious criminal offenses” – handed over national prosecutor Dariusz Korneluk on December 20. It was a day after the head of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's office, Gergely Gulyas, confirmed that MP Romanowski had received political asylum in Hungary.
Complaint from the prosecutor's office. Which judge was to hear them?
As TVN24 journalist Konrad Piasecki explained, in the Romanowski case, judges were randomly selected – this happened in the summer of 2024, when the prosecutor's office wanted to impose a three-month arrest on the PiS MP. District Court for Warsaw-Mokotów on July 16 he refused however, the politician was arrested due to the immunity of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe protecting him. July 22 National Prosecutor's Office she submitted complaint against the decision of the District Court for Warsaw-Mokotów in Warsaw, which refused to grant the application for pre-trial detention against Romanowski. She claimedthat a renewed legal analysis indicates that the scope of immunity protection regarding Romanowski in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe does not cover the acts he is accused of. The case was referred to the District Court in Warsaw.
July 26 editorial year OKO.press revealed that it had determined that the prosecutor's appeal was to be heard by Judge Przemysław Dziwański from the 10th Criminal Appeals Division of the District Court in Warsaw. He received the case by lot (since 2018 in common courts works Random Case Assignment System, which is intended to ensure random assignment of adjudicating panels to individual cases).
On August 2, a prosecutor from the Investigation Team No. 2 of the National Prosecutor's Office submitted to the District Court in Warsaw a request to exclude Judge Dziwański from participating in the examination of the complaint. IN press release The request of the National Prosecutor's Office was justified by the fact that “there is reasonable doubt in the case” as to the impartiality of the judge. It was noted that Dziwański was appointed as a judge of the District Court in Warsaw in 2023 from the nomination of the neo-National Council of the Judiciary, which – due to, among others, to judgments of European tribunals – means that it cannot be considered a guarantor of an independent and impartial court.
However, the court did not accept this request from the prosecutor's office. The decision in this case was issued by Judge Mariusz Jackowski from the 10th Criminal Appeals Division – assessedthat the nomination of a given person as a judge by the National Council of the Judiciary, established after December 2017, “does not constitute an automatic reason to conclude that there is a justified doubt as to the objective and subjective impartiality of such a person in examining cases.” “Consistently, there is no basis for supporting another person running for the National Council of the Judiciary,” the judge noted. His justification on August 7 he quoted on platform X, Romanowski's defender, attorney Bartosz Lewandowski.
Drawing two judges. Among them was Romanowski's subordinate
August 8, District Court in Warsaw informed however, to expand the panel adjudicating on the prosecutor's complaint: from one to three judges. How translatedthe decision was made “due to the extensiveness of the evidence, its complexity, importance and the nature of the charges against the suspect.” Judge Przemysław Dziwański was to be joined by: judge Wanda Jankowska-Bebeszko and judge Aleksandra Rusin-Batko. This was decided by a draw within the framework System Random Case Assignment.
On the same day, Onet journalist Magdalena Gałczyńska she informedthat Judge Rusin-Batko “as the director of a department in the Ministry of Justice, was a person who reported directly to Romanowski.” On August 9, the District Court in Warsaw announced that Judge Aleksandra Rusin-Batko had submitted a request to be excluded from the adjudicating panel that was to decide the case of MP Romanowski's arrest.
August 12 on the page court appeared informationthat judge Przemysław Dziwański and judge Aleksandra Rusin-Batko stayed disabled from the panel that is supposed to decide the arrest case of MP Romanowski. This is the resolution he took up a single-member court represented by judge Krzysztof Chmielewski, also from the 10th Criminal Appeals Division. It considered Rusin-Batko's request to exclude her due to her previous work in the Ministry of Justice, when Romanowski was the deputy head of this ministry. But the exclusion of Judge Dziwański also aroused controversy and the reaction of politicians – including: Sovereign Poland politicians announced that they would submit a report to the prosecutor's office. In their opinion, Judge Chmielewski exceeded his powers by re-establishing the composition of the judges.
Another panel of judges, three-person
The chairwoman of the neo-KRS, Dagmara Pawełczyk-Woicka, announced the initiation of explanatory proceedings against Judge Chmielewski. “Such activities cannot be treated as an error in the interpretation of the law. The court has already examined the grounds for excluding Judge Dziwański and assessed them negatively. This closed the case” – she stated in a post on X on August 12. “Judge K. Chmielewski was appointed to exclude Judge Rusin-Batko. He had no right to exclude Judge Dziwański,” she added.
On August 14, the chairwoman of the 10th Criminal Appeals Division of the District Court in Warsaw decided that the case would be heard by judges composed of Przemysław Dziwański, Wanda Jankowska-Bebeszko, and Leszek Parzyszek. So to the adjudicating panel is back judge Dziwański, the previously drawn judge Jankowska-Bebeszko remained, and a new judge joined in place of Rusin-Batko. “The case of the Prosecutor's Office's complaint was set for a substantive deadline of September 27, 2024,” we read further in message District Court in Warsaw.
The decision of the extended squad was in favor of Romanowski
September 27 The District Court in Warsaw considered the appeal of the National Prosecutor's Office against the refusal to arrest Marcin Romanowski. The ruling was issued by three judges: Przemysław Dziwański as the chairman of the panel, as well as Wanda Jankowska-Bebeszko and Leszek Parzyszek.
The verdict was in favor of Romanowski. Marcin Romanowski's defense lawyer Bartosz Lewandowski in the afternoon of that day informedthat “the district court upheld the decision of the first instance court refusing to arrest MP Marcin Romanowski.”
In reaction to this judgment, spokesman for the National Prosecutor's Office, Przemysław Nowak announced: “We will submit a request to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to waive immunity.” He added that this was tantamount to applying for a permit to prosecute.
September 29 Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar sent Theodoros Rousopulos to the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe application to waive Romanowski's immunity. October 2 Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe repealed immunity of the accused PiS politician.
Main photo source: Paweł Supernak/PAP, Leszek Szymański/PAP