The Supreme Court has received president's formal letters to seven judges, informing about their retirement starting on 12 September, Krzysztof Michałowski from Supreme Court's press office informed Polish Press Agency (PAP) on Wednesday.
President's letters concern seven judges who are 65 and whose requests to remain at the court were rejected by Andrzej Duda. Those judges are: Józef Iwulski, Jerzy Kuźniar, Stanisław Zabłocki, Maria Szulc, Anna Owczarek, Jacek Gudowski and Wojciech Katner. Earlier on, all of the above received negative opinions from the National Council of the Judiciary.
"The letters were signed personally by the president, without the prime minister's countersignature. At the moment, only judge Zabłocki was handed his letter. All the other judges already left the court today, so they will receive their letters tomorrow," said Mr Michałowski.
Michałowski also told PAP that in regard to those letters "President Małgorzata Gersdorf issued an order in which she names the head of the Civic Chamber, Dariusz Zawistowski to fill in for her during her absence, strarting from 3:30 p.m., September 12".
He reminded that earlier on, in the beginning of July, judge Gersdorf issues a similar order regarding judge Józef Iwulski, who is an addresse of one the president's letters.
On Tuesday, president's aide Paweł Mucha informed that from Wednesday on, the longest-serving Supreme Court's judge would take charge, meaning in practice the Civic Chamber's chief, Dariusz Zawistowski.
On Wednesday, Mucha said in an interview for public radio broadcaster that Małgorzata Gersdorf is an already retired judge.
Judge Stanisław Zabłocki wrote in a statement on Wednesday that he feels deeply sad that the president didn't hold his decision regarding sending judges to retirement, until the Court of Justice of European Union issues its verdict. He also declared that he's going to submit to president's decision.
"I still think the law provisions the president used to substantiate his decision to send me to retirement stand in contradiction to the constitutional rule of irremovabilty of judges, as well as to judicial independence" wrote Zabłocki.
"Therefore, until 5 July 2020, when I'll turn 70, I consider myself, de jure, an active duty judge, not a retired one," Zabłocki emphasised.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, PAP
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24