On Thursday, 4 July, Judge Paweł Juszczyszyn’s nearly five-year-long dispute with the former president of the Olsztyn court, Maciej Nawacki, came to an end.
The current president of the court, Krzysztof Krygielski, upheld all of Paweł Juszczyszyn’s claims and issued an apology.
The dispute concerned Judge Juszczyszyn’s enforcement of a landmark CJEU ruling, in which the Court had, for the first time, set out how to assess the legality of the actions of the neo-KRS, the neo-judges it had appointed, and the illegal Disciplinary Chamber.
In response to these actions, the judge faced immediate reprisals. Disciplinary proceedings were initiated against him, he was recalled from his secondment to the Regional Court in Olsztyn, and in February 2020, the illegal Disciplinary Chamber unlawfully suspended him. After two years, he was reinstated, but was immediately unlawfully ‘transferred’ to sit in a different division of the District Court in Olsztyn.
He was the first judge to be suspended in Poland, a move intended to intimidate the entire judicial community.
He was supported by the barrister, Prof. Michał Romanowski, together with the Romanowski i Wspólnicy team, who represented him in court. On behalf of Judge Juszczyszyn, Professor Romanowski filed landmark lawsuits, several of which were successful.
In the opinion of editor Mariusz Jałoszewski, this was one of the most important legal battles for the defence of the rule of law in the PiS government.
Read more in the article HERE [Polish version only].