REPUBLIC OF POLAND                                                                                       Warsaw, 16 December 2019

FIRST DEPUTY PROSECUTOR GENERAL

NATIONAL PROSECUTOR

Regional Prosecutors

Heads of the Remote Departments

Department of Organized Crime and Corruption

National Prosecution Office

Dear Sirs,

Further to the statement made by Małgorzata Gersdorf, the First President of the Supreme Court of 10 December 2019 regarding the judgment of the Chamber of Labour and Social Security of the Supreme Court, case reference III PO 7/18, in which she appealed to the judges of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court to “refrain from all judicial actions in the cases they are handling”, please respond immediately to all cases in which adjudicating panels challenge the status of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court as a court under Polish law or the status of judges adjudicating in the Supreme Court or the ordinary court judges appointed by the President of the Republic of Poland at the request of the National Council of the Judiciary.

The conclusions and interpretations contained in M. Gersdorf’s statement are in conflict with the Polish Constitution and the applicable statutes. The Prosecution Office, as a body obliged by statute to uphold the rule of law, must respond to attempts to disorganize the Polish democratic justice system.

Therefore, if such a position is found in any proceedings, I order you to immediately submit a motion to remove the judge or judges from adjudicating in such a case and to notify the Regional Prosecutor of this matter.

I simultaneously obligate the regional prosecutors to immediately send a notice of such an incident to the Disciplinary Commissioner of the Ordinary Court Judges and the Disciplinary Commissioner of the Supreme Court in such cases.

Every case where members of adjudicating panels take such a position and the actions performed as a result constituting the performance of the obligations arising from this letter must be reported to the Department of Court Proceedings of the National Prosecution Office.

Please, provide this order to your subordinate prosecutors forthwith for information and application.

                                                                                            Yours faithfully,

                                                                                      Bogdan Święczkowski

                                                                                        National Prosecutor