Council of Europe once again rejects Polish candidates to ECHR

Aleksander Stępkowski, Elżbieta Karska and Agnieszka Szklanna - candidates for European Court of Human Rights judges - have been once again rejected by the the Council of Europe Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights.

The final decision in that regard will be taken by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, but this body usually votes in line with the Committee's recommendations.

Previously, that same three candidates were rejected by the Committee in April of 2021. The Committee's decision was then rubber-stamped by the Parliamentary Assembly which, from the procedural point of view, was a formality finally ending the case.

The Assembly said last year that the main reason behind the rejection of Poland's candidates was lack of transparency in their nomination process. The Council of Europe then asked Poland to nominate new candidates.

However, in December of 2021, the Polish government once again proposed the following persons: DSc Elżbieta Karska, a professor at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, in private life the wife of PiS MEP Karol Karski, Supreme Court spokesman and founder of the ultraconservative organisation Ordo Iuris DSc Aleksander Stępkowski, and Council of Europe expert PhD Agnieszka Szklanna.