The head of the PiS Settlement Team, Roman Giertych from the Civic Coalition, announced that he had filed a report of a possible disciplinary offence committed by judge Przemysław Dziwański. He explained that the offence consisted of an attempt to prolong the examination of the case of Law and Justice MP Marcin Romanowski.
Przemysław Dziwański is a judge who was on the panel adjudicating in the case of the arrest of Marcin Romanowski – PiS MP and the politics of Solidarna Polska. The prosecutor's office wants to arrest Romanowski in connection with suspicions of his responsibility for irregularities in spending money from the Justice Fund.
Initially, the panel adjudicating in the case of the appeal against the refusal to arrest Romanowski was to be a single-person one, with Przemysław Dziwański as the reporting judge. The prosecutor's office requested his exclusion, but the Warsaw Regional Court did not grant this request.
Last week, it was announced that the adjudicating panel would be expanded to three judges. In addition to Judge Dziwański, Judge Aleksandra Rusin-Batko and Judge Wanda Jankowska-Bebeszko joined the panel by drawing lots. On Friday, it was announced that Rusin-Batko had filed a motion to be removed from the adjudicating panel. On Monday, the court's website announced that Rusin-Batko and Dziwański had been removed from the case.
Roman Giertych PAP/Rafal Guz
Roman Giertych filed a notice
Last week, Giertych announced that he would file a notice of the possibility that Dziwański had committed a disciplinary offence, “consisting of accepting for consideration a case for the application of arrest against MP M. Romanowski in a situation where he was planning an exceptionally long vacation.”
He explained then that “the prosecutor's office's arrest motion is dictated by a proven fear of tampering with the case, and prolonging its consideration results in a further threat related to this tampering.”
– Such an attitude of the judge is an insult to the authority of the justice system and constitutes, among other things, a disciplinary offence consisting in undermining the dignity of the profession of a judge – Giertych stated. He also informed that he will apply to the Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar to appoint an ad hoc disciplinary spokesman in this case.
On Tuesday, Giertych informed on X that he had filed a notice in Dziwański's case to the deputy disciplinary spokesman at the Court of Appeal in Warsaw “for an attempt (fortunately unsuccessful) to extend the examination of the case of MP M. Romanowski beyond the deadline provided for by law and absolutely insulting the dignity of the justice system”. He attached the first page of the notice to the entry.
The prosecutor's office wants Romanowski to be arrested
The prosecutor's office wants to order Romanowski, who was deputy minister of justice in the United Right government, to be detained for three months. However, the District Court for Warsaw-Mokotów on July 16 refused to arrest the politician due to the immunity of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The prosecutor's office, filing a complaint against this decision, argued that a new legal analysis showed that the scope of immunity protection concerning Romanowski in the Council of Europe's Association does not cover the acts he is accused of. The case was referred to the District Court in Warsaw and is awaiting a decision.
The prosecutor's office announced that if the District Court upholds the decision of the first instance court to refuse to arrest Romanowski due to the immunity of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, it will apply for its lifting.
Main image source: PAP/Rafal Guz