Neo-judges are unable to issue any ruling on behalf of the Supreme Court in our country, said Piotr Prusinowski, judge of this court, in “Kropka nad i” on TVN24. Przemysław Rosati, president of the Supreme Bar Council, said that “the beneficiaries of this situation in the justice system today are only politicians.”
Zbigniew Kapiński, former judge of the Court of Appeal in Warsaw, appointed to the Supreme Court at the request of the neo-KRS – in a procedure questioned by European tribunals, was on Tuesday a guest of “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24.
Kapiński, who is the president of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, was asked about the resolution adopted by this chamber at the end of September, stating that the reinstatement and appointment of Dariusz Barski as national prosecutor in 2022 was legally effective. The resolution was adopted by a panel of three judges of the Chamber, chaired by Kapiński, and all three were elected to the Supreme Court in procedures before the neo-National Council of the Judiciary. The resolution was adopted in response to a question submitted to the Supreme Court in March by the Gdańsk district court. As Kapiński said, in accordance with the provisions of law, the resolution regarding Dariusz Barski is directly binding on the referring court.
Prusinowski on the “sad spectacle”
Kapiński's statement was commented on “Kropka nad i” on TVN24 by Piotr Prusinowski, PhD, judge of the Supreme Court, former President of the Supreme Court, head of the Chamber of Labor and Social Insurance, and Przemysław Rosati, president of the Supreme Bar Council, member of the State Tribunal.
– We watched quite a sad spectacle of a person who gets confused and basically questions everything he can do, except what he himself will do. Let's say this from the very beginning. What Mr. Kapiński calls the resolution of the Supreme Court was an action performed by Mr. Zbigniew Kapiński and two other neo-judges. But this is certainly not a ruling that is a ruling of the Supreme Court, said Judge Prusinowski.
– Therefore, if something is not a judgment and does not come from the Supreme Court, it cannot be claimed that it was based on it that the decision was made as to who is the national prosecutor – he added.
As Prusinowski continued, “neo-judges are unable to issue any ruling on behalf of the Supreme Court in our country.” – Therefore, the District Court in Gdańsk, after receiving such a response (in the case regarding Barski – ed.), will have the choice of either deciding this issue itself, because it has the authority to do so, or asking again Supreme Courtnot neo-judges who are unable to create a court, he said.
To the presenter's remark that, according to Andrzej Duda Dariusz Barski is still the national prosecutor, Prusinowski said: – I understand that Mr. President says otherwise, but Mr. President himself prepared, one could say, the entire soup that we are dealing with today.
Prusinowski: the bigger the mess, the better for politicians
Speaking more broadly about the situation in the Polish judiciary, Prusinowski said: – The whole of Poland, you, everyone who is watching, including us, can answer the question today – why did we do this? That's what it's for. The murkier the water, the bigger the mess, the better for politicians. That's what this whole reform was for.
– So that today individual politicians can hide from the justice system. I have the impression that it was a deliberate action, said the Supreme Court judge.
Rosati: the only beneficiaries of this situation are politicians
Przemysław Rosati also stated that “the beneficiaries of this situation in the justice system today are only politicians.”
– If you have to appear, suddenly the prosecutor's office is illegal. If you need to use what you spend Constitutional Tribunalthen of course this is the basis for not appearing and not taking part in the activities before the investigative commission – he continued.
He also referred to the above-mentioned decision of the Supreme Court, issued by judges who were appointed to the Supreme Court in procedures before the neo-National Council of the Judiciary, which concerned the issue of the national prosecutor.
– The court in Gdańsk asked a question, received an answer and must consider what to do with this answer. This is not an answer to the question whether the prosecutor is Mr. Korneluk or Mr. Barski, but it is an answer to the procedural puzzle, which comes down to whether the assessor who issued the decision, which is subject to the control of the District Court in Gdańsk, was duly or improperly authorized. And that is the whole story, said the president of the Polish Bar Council.
Main photo source: TVN24