26 jurors appointed by the Senate to the Supreme Court have still not been sworn in. The first president of the Supreme Court, Małgorzata Manowska, wants to “dispel doubts” and talk to them at individual meetings. “We expect the oath to be taken from all 26 people, without additional talks and conditions. The regulations do not give the first president of the Supreme Court any additional verification of jurors-elects or rejecting or blocking some of the selected people,” the jurors-elects wrote in a statement. They are protesting at the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
A dispute over taking the oath from 26 jurors selected by the Senatewhose candidacies were put forward by the Committee for the Defense of Democracy, has been going on since last autumn. So far, the first president of the Supreme Court has not taken the oath from them, she has only sworn in four jurors selected at that time, who had previously worked in the Supreme Court. She also appealed to the Marshal of the Senate to consider a reassessment of the election of some judges of the Supreme Court due to the fact that, in her opinion, they do not meet the criterion of “impeccable character”. Marshal Tomasz Grodzki replied that the Senate had completed its task and it was legally impossible to undermine the choice made. He called on Manowska to take the oath from all selected jurors.
Jury-elects protest: unauthorized, selective proceedings
On Tuesday, jurors-elect protested in front of the Supreme Court building. They said they demanded respect for the law and were “ready to take on juror duties”. They also read out their statement that they are protesting against “unauthorized, selective conduct” and are waiting for all 26 people to take the oath – “without additional talks and conditions.” They went to one of the conference rooms in the courthouse, where they want to meet the first president.
In a statement for the media, the jurors-elect wrote that “in recent days, the secretariat of the first president of the Supreme Court invited four people from our group to meet and talk with professor Małgorzata Manowskawith the possibility – as suggested – of taking the oath individually and conducting statutory training.
They stressed that they “strongly protest against this kind of unauthorized, selective conduct.” “We expect the oath to be taken from all 26 people, in total, without additional talks and conditions. The current law on the Supreme Court does not give the first president of the Supreme Court any additional verification of jurors-elect or rejecting or blocking some selected people,” they stated.
“As citizens, we also feel ashamed and outraged by the violation of the authority of the Supreme Court by the current leadership,” they added. They stated that “only the action of the first president of the Supreme Court, which will immediately lead to the swearing in of all 30 lay judges, will be in accordance with applicable law.”
Spokesperson of the Supreme Court: the first president wants to “dispel doubts”
The press officer of the Supreme Court, Judge Aleksander Stępkowski, stated that “in the light of publicly available messages formulated publicly by some of the persons presented by Senate of the Republic of Poland to serve as a juror of the second term, and which content was also widely commented on in the media, doubts arose as to whether the Senate of the Republic of Poland properly verified the candidates’ fulfillment of the “criteria” from the Act on the Supreme Court. “The first president of the Supreme Court wants to dispel these doubts during the personal meetings with persons presented in the Senate resolution, hoping that this will enable taking the oath from them. It should be recalled that no provision of generally applicable law stipulates the date by which the first president would be obliged to take the oath, added Judge Stępkowski, quoted by the Polish Press Agency.
We asked the spokesman and the press office of the Supreme Court about the statement of the jurors-elect and about Manowska’s position on this matter. By the time the text was published, no answer had come.
Main photo source: tvn24