On Friday, 12 March 2021, the National Prosecutor’s Office announced its plan to detain Judge Igor Tuleya and forcibly bring him to a hearing, which is to take place after obtaining the consent of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court.

The judge’s only “fault” is that in 2018, acting in accordance with the law, within his powers and in defense of the public interest, he ordered a public session in a case he was handling regarding the voting of the Sejm in the so-called Column Hall. The judge simultaneously quashed the prosecutor’s decision to discontinue the proceedings in this case, which made it impossible to “sweep the case under the carpet”. As a result, the public was able to learn of the abuses that took place when voting on the budget, which undermined the feeling of impunity of the politicians in the current ruling camp.

We would like to reiterate that Judge Igor Tuleya is still protected by his immunity, as the decision of the Disciplinary Chamber to revoke it was not a judgment. Therefore, the information of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is an illegal threat to deprive a person of his freedom.

The consent to bring the judge in by force is supposed to be issued by the Disciplinary Chamber, which, just to reiterate, is not a court in the light of either the Polish Constitution or European law! If Judge Igor Tuleya is illegally and groundlessly deprived of his freedom, the people responsible for this decision, i.e. both the prosecutor who signs the detention order and the members of the Disciplinary Chamber will need to expect disciplinary and criminal liability under Article 231, para. 1 of the Penal Code (overstepping powers by a public official) and Article 189, para. 1 of the Penal Code (unlawful deprivation of a person’s freedom). Their liability is all the more obvious that – according to the apt position of Prof. Włodzimierz Wróbel of 12 March 2021 – even in the light of the unconstitutional regulations currently in force, it is not the Disciplinary Chamber, but the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court that has the jurisdiction to hear such a request.

The mere announcement of the National Prosecutor’s Office is a sign of the ostentatious disregard of the law. The unlawful imprisonment of Judge Igor Tuleya will place Poland among the group of countries such as Belarus and Russia. We remember the recent detention and arrest of Alexei Navalny. The ruling party and its officials from the Internal Affairs Department of the National Prosecutor’s Office and the Disciplinary Chamber want to treat Judge Igor Tuleya in the same way that the authoritarian regime treats oppositionists. Depriving him of his freedom will be a symbol of the fall of democracy, the final trampling of the independent and impartial judiciary and a return to the previous era when only the correct will of the ruling party was more important than the law.

No citizen will be able to feel safe in a country where a judge, who is a guardian of civic rights and freedoms, can be unjustifiably and unlawfully deprived of his freedom in the spotlight.

Today the judges – tomorrow you.