The European Court of Human Rights has communicated (presented to the Polish Government, which is expected to respond by March 29) eight applications against Poland filed by Polish judges. The judges filed complaints with the Court in connection with the decision of the President of the Republic of Poland to refuse to appoint them to judicial positions (joined cases 35890/22 Kaspryszyn v. Poland).
The following judges and law professors received (in 2016 and 2017) a positive recommendation from the National Council of Judiciary (the so-called Old NCJ) for judicial positions: Judge of the Supreme Court: Janusz Kaspryszyn, Malgorzata Polanska-Farion, Aleksander Kappes, Wojciech Kocot. Judge of the Regional Administrative Court: Grzegorz Borkowski. Judges of the Courts of Appeals: Agnieszka Łukaszuk, Grzegorz Miśkiewicz, Tomasz Wojciechowski. District Court Judges: Krzysztof Ptasiewicz, Piotr Raczkowski, and Military District Court Judge: Wojciech Buchajczuk.
Despite the positive recommendation of the NCJ, the President delayed appointing them to the recommended judicial positions for several years, and finally on December 27, 2021, he issued a decision of refusal (published on January 10, 2022) without giving any reasons for his decision.
The judges and law professors (with the exception of Judge Grzegorz Miśkiewicz) filed complaints with the ECtHR citing:
– Article 6 and Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights and claiming the absence of any remedy by which they could challenge the President of Poland’s decision to refuse to appoint them to judicial positions.
– Article 8 of the Convention, alleging that both the President of the Republic of Poland’s prolonged silence in the face of the NCJ’s recommendation on their appointment and the President’s decision to refuse their appointment violated their good name.
The ECHR decided that on the basis of Article 41 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Court of Human Rights, the applicants would be given priority. This means that the Court has given priority to these complaints, considering them particularly important due to their systemic nature. The Court already has more than 100 cases that concern judicial independence and the operation of the justice system in Poland.
The case is being conducted by Maria Ejchart-Dubois, attorney Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram and attorney Michal Wawrykiewicz as part of the Committee for the Defense of Justice (KOS).
* The cases of Prof. Wojciech Kocot and Prof. Aleksander Kappes were communicated on June 1, 2022, and involve the same charges and the same facts. Thus, the ECHR will deal with the cases of 10 of the 11 judges not appointed by the President.