“I think it is completely inadequate and disproportionate to call me a defender of ‘claim traders’. I do not want to use harsher words”, said Adam Bodnar at a press conference in the Office of the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman was referring to the statement of Patryk Jaki made by the Deputy Minister of Justice on Twitter on Tuesday.
“Incredible! A. Bodnar wrote to me, defending claim traders. And no letters at all about people being thrown out on the streets. Let’s tag #dismissbodnar”, tweeted Patryk Jaki, the head of the Review Committee. The letter from Adam Bodnar to Patryk Jaki is dated 29 September. It was published on the Ombudsman’s website on Tuesday. In its appeal to the head of the Review Committee, Bodnar stressed that his office had been receiving complaints from individuals summoned to Review Committee hearings in different capacities. “The complaints mostly concern objections against the authority in charge of the proceedings that the standards of interrogation are not respected in relation to people summoned to the meetings of the Review Committee”, Bodnar wrote. He emphasized his concern “whether the guarantees of protection of procedural rights are fully respected in relation to the participants of the proceedings before the Committee”. “I would like to stress that the role of the Ombudsman is to protect the rights of citizens, tenants, officials and prisoners alike, against abuse by authorities. Everyone can complain to the Ombudsman. The role of the Ombudsman is to analyze the complaints and then submit them to appropriate public authorities”, Bodnar stated. He also added that “as regards the people who stand before the investigation committees, they enjoy the same rights as any other citizens.” “They have the right to be treated with dignity, to demand that legal rules be followed, and especially that certain standards of procedural justice be respected, the standards of proceedings”, he noted. He emphasized that he was approached by “citizens who are concerned about the practices of the Review Committee”. “What I have done is an obligation of every Ombudsman”, he said. “The head of the Committee (Patryk Jaki – ed.) did not really fail to address the merits, actually I heard arguments that were not quite to the point in the first place. I would say they were simply offensive”, he stated. Bodnar additionally noted that the “rotation and independence are critical in the office of the Ombudsman”. “The reason why the Ombudsman must be independent and autonomous in his judgments is to let him do his job in peace”, he said. He added that, of course, the Ombudsman “can be criticized, as this is a natural thing for this job”. “But the dispute should always focus on the merits, it should not be political”, he summarized.
Źródło: tvn24.pl/tłumaczenie Intertext.com.pl