Prosecutors seeks to strip Supreme Court chief justice of immunity to face criminal charges

Prosecutors have requested that Supreme Court chief justice Małgorzata Manowska be stripped of legal immunity so that she can face charges for committing three alleged crimes.

The development marks a further deepening of Poland’s rule-of-law crisis, which has seen the current government repeatedly clash with officials, such as Manowska, appointed under the former Law and Justice (PiS) administration.

On Wednesday afternoon, Adam Bodnar, the justice minister and prosecutor general, announced that requests have been submitted to the Supreme Court and State Tribunal – a body tasked with holding state officials to account – for Manowska’s immunity to be revoked.

He said that prosecutors have “gathered evidence indicating a reasonable suspicion that Małgorzata Manowska committed three offences”, all of which relate to abuse of power. That crime carries a potential prison sentence of up to three years.

The first charge relates to Manowska allegedly allowing votes to take place at the Supreme Court’s board without the required quorum of at least two thirds of judges being present.

Seven votes took place in 2021 and 2022 without such a quorum because some judges were boycotting the meetings until the Supreme Court respected a European Court of Justice order to cease the activity of its disciplinary chamber for judges, a controversial body created by PiS.

The second charge pertains to Manowska allegedly failing to convene a meeting of the State Tribunal – a body which, as head of the Supreme Court, she also chairs – when required.

The third accuses her of failing to comply with a court ruling to reinstate a Supreme Court judge, Paweł Juszczyszyn, who had been suspended by the disciplinary chamber.

In a statement outlining the allegations, the national prosecutor’s office said that it has found there is a “high probability that Małgorzata Manowska committed the three prohibited acts”.

However, it can only bring charges against her if she is stripped of immunity by both the Supreme Court (through its professional responsibility chamber, another body created under PiS) and the State Tribunal.

Manowska herself has not yet commented on the development. However, the prosecutors’ actions were strongly condemned by Lawyers for Poland (Prawnicy dla Polski), a group representing judges associated with the former PiS government’s judicial reforms.

This is “another act of political terror by Bodnar” and “an unprecedented attack on the independence of the highest judicial authority”, wrote the group on social media.

They accused Bodnar of “attacking the Supreme Court chief justice…for not submitting to his dictates…[and] having the courage to defend the constitutional order.”

“These are not actions in accordance with the law – this is an operation of political retaliation using the prosecutor’s office as a tool of repression,” they added, before “expressing full solidarity with the chief justice”.

Manowska was appointed as chief justice in 2020 by PiS-aligned president Andrzej Duda. The decision aroused controversy, as she was picked ahead of another candidate who received twice as many nominations from among other judges.

Manowska is one of the so-called “neo-judges” who were appointed to the Supreme Court after the PiS government had overhauled the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) – the body responsible for nominating judges – in a manner that Polish and European courts found rendered it illegitimate due to political influence.

Since PiS lost power in December 2023, Manowska has spoken out against the actions of the new ruling coalition, accusing it of “violating the foundations of the constitutional order of Poland” and taking “illegal actions” against PiS MPs.

Separately, another of Poland’s top courts, the Constitutional Tribunal (TK), has also been embroiled in a conflict with the government, which refuses to recognise its legitimacy do to the presence of judges illegitimately appointed under PiS.

Main image credit: Slawomir Kaminski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl