National Prosecutor’s Office wants Igor Tuleya to be brought in for questioning by force. A motion will be filed with the Supreme Court
wiadomości.gazeta.pl, mk, IAR, 12/03/2021 16:40
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‘The National Public Prosecutor’s Office will apply to the Supreme Court to bring Judge Igor Tuleya to the public prosecutor’s office by force for questioning,’ the National Prosecutor’s Office stated in a press release sent to the Polish Press Agency. The prosecutor’s office wants to press charges of the illegal dissemination of information on the judge.
The National Prosecutor’s Office claims Judge Igor Tuleya is obliged to come to the prosecutor’s office for questioning, which he has already failed to do three times. The hearings were to be held on 18 January, 10 February and 12 March.
According to the announcement by the National Prosecutor’s Office in a press release sent to the Polish Press Agency, the Internal Affairs Division of the National Prosecutor’s Office will therefore apply for permission to the Supreme Court to forcibly bring Igor Tuleya in.
‘This decision doesn’t seem surprising to me, because, when sending the summons, the prosecutor mentioned that coercive measures may be applied. I have been expecting such a scenario from the very beginning. Of course, I will not go voluntarily to the prosecutor’s office for questioning, because the actions of the prosecutor’s office are unlawful. My immunity has not been lifted because the so-called Disciplinary Chamber is not a court,’ commented Judge Igor Tuleya on Friday afternoon on TVN24.
‘My participation in the questioning as a suspect, in a situation where I am protected by immunity, would be a breach of the law on my part,’ he added.
Court of Appeal in Warsaw: Igor Tuleya is continuously a judge
Last November, the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court decided to strip Tuleya of his immunity and suspend him from office. According to the prosecutor’s office, the judge allegedly overstepped his powers in 2017 by allowing the media to record the oral justification of the ruling in the case of the deliberations in the Sejm’s Column Room that took place in 2016. Tuleya himself has repeatedly stated that he does not recognise the chamber’s decision and intends to continue ruling.
This February, the Court of Appeal stated that ‘Igor Tuleya is continuously a judge of an ordinary court of the Republic of Poland with the immunity and the right to adjudicate that goes with this office,’ and that the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court is not an independent and impartial court.
Even so, Igor Tuleya has not been allowed to adjudicate by the President of the District Court, Piotr Schab. The case is to be dealt with by the labour court.
On 5 December 2019, following the interpretation of the Court of Justice of the European Union in its judgment of 19 November 2019, the Supreme Court held that the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court is not a court in the meaning of EU law, as a result of which it is also not a court in the meaning of national law.
