Dear Guests,

we kindly invite you to read Resolutions of the Assembly of Representatives of Judges of the Regional Court in Kraków adopted on 18 June 2018.

Resolutions 18.06.2018 Kraków_Assembly

Resolutions of the Assembly of Representatives of Judges of the Regional Court in Kraków adopted on 18 June 2018.
1. The Assembly of Representatives of Judges of the Regional Court in Kraków supports appeals calling on the European Commission to refer the Law on the Supreme Court to the Court of Justice of the European Union, together with an application for an interim measure which would suspend its implementation before the composition of the Supreme Court will change on 3 July 2018, which will subordinate the Court to the political factor as it had already happened with the Constitutional Tribunal and the National Council of the Judiciary.
2. The Assembly of Representatives of Judges of the Regional Court in Kraków fully supports point 1 of the resolution of the Meeting of Judges of the District Court in Krakow of 24 May 2018, which expressed a vote of no-confidence for the President of the Regional Court in Krakow, Dagmara Pawelczyk-Woicka, and urged her to resign from her position immediately.
3. The Assembly of Representatives of Judges of the Regional Court in Kraków expresses its strong objection against an insinuation presented in the interview of the Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki for ‘Gazeta Polska’ of 13 June 2018. This insinuation, in the context of the question asked to the Prime Minister, suggests that an organized criminal group is active among judges of the Krakow court. The fact that a few of the directors of the Regional Court in Kraków were charged does not in any way translate into responsibility of judges from the Court as whole. Similarly, the Prime Minister’s statement does not include the fact that until now the defendants were not convicted with a final judgement. The television statement made by the Minister of Justice-Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro on 25 May 2018 is of similar character and it pertains to the Resolution of the Assembly of Representatives of Judges of the Regional Court in Kraków of 24 May 2018. These statements violate the principle of presumption of innocence, the principle of individualization of criminal responsibility, as well as the good name of judges from the Kraków Region. Attempts to ascribe collective responsibility to the entire professional group deserve condemnation, as something characteristic for authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. These sorts of media manipulation fit into previous statements done by the Prime Minister Morawiecki (including statements made for the Washington Examiner published on 13 December 2017, a statement made during a meeting with President Macron
on 15 December 2017, or spoken and written information provided to journalists in Brussels on 10 January 2017) and are aimed at (together with the infamous billboard campaign) preparing the ground for complete subordination of the judiciary to the executive power.
4. The Assembly of Representatives of Judges of the Regional Court in Kraków critically assess the amendment of art. 30 of the Law on the System of Common Courts, which specifies a new composition of the College of the Regional Court. This amendment has been introduced with blatant disregard for standards of sound legislative process, especially because of the fact that the inter-temporal regulation has been omitted. This regulation is supposed to decide whether composition of the College chosen in accordance with new rules ends the term of office of the current members. At the same time, the Assembly expresses an opinion that, taking into account lack of the above-mentioned regulation, the term of office of the current members of the College of the Regional Court was not terminated. This means that the new College chosen on meetings in May 2018 should assume its duties after termination of the term of office of the members of the College chosen by the Assembly of Representatives of Judges of the Regional Court in Kraków on 26 February 2018.
5. The Assembly of Representatives of Judges of the Regional Court in Kraków expresses its objection against appointment of judges to disciplinary courts functioning next to the courts of appeal without their consent. This obligation, introduced by art. 82 ‘c’ of the Law on the System of Common Courts, is in violation of art. 180 sec. 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. At the same time, the Assembly yet again expresses its opinion that the new mode of disciplinary proceedings introduced by amendments to the Law on the Supreme Court and the Law on the System of Common Courts is heading towards creation of a chilling effect among judges and their subordination to the executive power. This can be supported by the fact that the above-mentioned amendments give the Minister of Justice the right to choose judges to disciplinary courts of first instance and the politicized National Council of the Judiciary the right to choose members of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court. Moreover, in both types of proceedings the Minster of Justice is given a wide array of powers, which lowers the level of procedural guarantees granted to the accused.
6. In relation to announcements of an invitation by the newly-appointed National Council of the Judiciary (Krajowa Rada Sądownicta, ‘KRS’) of judge Beata Morawiec in order to explain the situation regarding courts in Kraków, we declare that the vast majority of judges of the Regional Court in Kraków, and not only judge Beata Morawiec, is stepping forward in defence of independent courts and against incompetence of persons appointed for positions of presidents of the common courts. This can be supported by the outcome of the vote on the meeting of judges of the Regional Court in Kraków which took place on 24 May 2018. In connection with the above, representatives of judges of the Krakow Region are entitled to present their arguments.
Therefore, we conclude that the invitation of judge Beata Morawiec is not intended at hearing our arguments, but rather it is an attempt to groundlessly portray the conflict as a personal one, between the current and the previous Presidents of the Court. Despite justified grounds as to whether the current National Council of the Judiciary was elected in accordance with the Consitution, we are in favour of a public presentation of the position of the Krakow’s judges regarding the manner in which the Courts of the Krakow Region are managed. We are ready for a conversation with the participation of members of the National Council of the Judiciary during the Assembly of Representatives of Judges of the Regional Court in Kraków or during a plenary meeting with members of the newly-appointed National Council of the Judiciary, where representatives of judges from Krakow will also be present.
7. We oblige the President of the Regional Court to publish this resolutions on the official website of the Regional Court and to forward this resolutions to the President of Poland, the Minister of Justice, President of the National Council of the Judiciary, First President of the Supreme Court, to the Presidents of Administrative Courts and to the Presidents of Regional and Appellate Courts. At the same time, we authorize the associations of judges to deliver the resolutions to the above-mentioned bodies and to translate resolutions to English and then to send translations to foreign organizations, institutions, foundations, associations concerned with monitoring the rule of law and defence of independent courts and judicial autonomy, especially to: National Councils of Judiciary of the European Member States, European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg), Court of Justice of the European Union (Luxembourg), CCJE – Consultative Council of European Judges, ENCJ – European Networks of Councils for the Judiciary, Foundation Judges for Judges, ABA – American Bar Association, European Commission for
Democracy through Law, MEDEL, EAJ – European Association of Judges, IAJ – International Association of Judges, ICJ – International Commission of Jurists, CCBE – Council of Bars and Law Societes of Europe, AEAJ – Association of European Administrative Judges, ODIHR – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Mr Nils Muiżnieks – the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Mr. Diego Garcii Sayan – Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, UNHRC – United Nations Human Rights Council, Amnesty International, UNICRI – United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, ELI – European Law Institute, CEELI Institute – Central and East European Law Initiative, USAID – United States Agency for International Development.