The mere fact that only the judges of the Civil Chamber appointed by the neo-KRS were defectively appointed for this case proves that this is intentional, said Judge Beata Morawiec, president of the Themis Association of Judges, in “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24. It is about examining the application of the Minister of Justice representing the State Treasury to appeal the judgment ordering the judge to apologize. Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram, representative of the “Free Courts” Initiative, assessed that “neither Judge Beata Morawiec nor any citizen at this moment have equal chances in this court.”
In January 2021, the Court of Appeal in Warsaw ruled that the Minister of Justice representing the State Treasury must apologize to the former president of the District Court in Krakow, Judge Beata Morawiec for violating her personal rights and pay PLN 12,000. PLN for the Senior Home Foundation. This decision was made in a civil trial. The judge alleged that the announcement of the Ministry of Justice from 2017 informing about her dismissal contained information, unrelated to her in any way, about detentions as part of an investigation into corruption in the courts of Krakow.
The Minister of Justice filed a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court. As “Gazeta Wyborcza” wrote, a panel was appointed to hear the case. These are the three so-called neojudges. This is how a large part of the judiciary community calls people nominated by the new, politicized National Council of the Judiciary.
Judge Morawiec: My reaction to what happened is limited
Judge Beata Morawiec asked in “Fakty po Faktach” whether Supreme Court will confirm previous verdicts of the district and appellate courts, said that “neo-judges are unpredictable, so we cannot predict what the verdict will be.”
– The very fact that only judges of the Civil Chamber, appointed incorrectly by the neo-NCJ, were appointed to hear this case proves that this is a deliberate action – she assessed.
She added that “it cannot be hidden that the composition of judges in the Supreme Court is not drawn”. – He is elected by the President of the Chamber, therefore it cannot be said that it was a coincidence – she said.
Morawiec noted that the Civil Chamber is already dominated by neo-judges. – Out of 25 judges of the Civil Chamber, 15 are defectively appointed judges. Accordingly, even my reaction to what happened is very limited. Of course, we can submit a motion to exclude judges who were incorrectly appointed, Morawiec said.
She added that she was still considering all options with her attorney.
Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram on the “strong freezing effect”
Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram, a representative of the “Free Courts” Initiative, assessed that “neither judge Beata Morawiec nor any citizen at the moment have equal chances in this court.”
– Regardless of whether the decision will be favorable or not, the judgment in the case of Judge Morawiec and an ordinary citizen will be issued by a person who should not be sitting there at all, whose status is already questioned by the Court in Strasbourg, by the Court in Luxembourg – she said. She added that “there is uncertainty about this verdict”.
– We know very well that these people were selected from a specific key and in a sense, taking into account the attitude of the judge, who openly defends the rule of law, that the other side is the minister (Zbigniew) Ziobrowhich, as we know, can show, to put it mildly, its dissatisfaction with judges who may face very different disciplinary consequences, repressions, harder, softer, it is quite a strong chilling effect that tells such judges, whether in the Supreme Court or in the district court, that However, it is better not to mess with Minister Ziobro, because we know that in matters that concern him personally, he will stop at nothing, she assessed.