ECHR: Poland violated human rights convention by removing judges

In 2018, under the amended law on common courts, judges Alina Bojara and Mariusz Broda were removed as vice-presidents of he Kielce Regional Court by the Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro. They found the justification for the decision laconic and unsatisfactory. Furthermore, the the new law did not grant them any option to appeal against the decision.

They decided to file a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights claiming that they did not have any remedy allowing them to challenge the decisions of the justice minister to put a premature end to their term of office. They argued this was a violation of Article 6 of the the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to a fair trial before an independent court.

On Tuesday, the ECHR found the complaint convincing and that Poland had indeed violated Article 6. The court said in a statement that "in the light of all the information available to it (...) the applicants’ removal had been based on a legislative provision whose compatibility with the requirements of the rule of law appeared doubtful" and that "the measure was not surrounded by any of the fundamental safeguards of procedural fairness".

The court added that "the ministerial decisions to remove the applicants had not been accompanied by any reasons".

"The Court noted that the national legal framework applicable at the time of the applicants’ removal did not protect them in any way against the premature and arbitrary termination of their duties as vice-presidents of a court" - the statement reads.

The Court held that Poland was to pay each of the applicants 20,000 euros (EUR) in respect of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage.

The European Court of Human Rights, a Council of Europe institution, is not an EU body. It's very specific institution, which of course we respect and cooperate with, but each time various rulings are made we stress the supremacy, priority of provisions enshrined in Polish constitution" - Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday, asked about the verdict.

He added the Polish constitution is the ultimate legal act and other laws stem from it.

"Of course we highly respect the court, but we carry on with our programme which includes reforms of the judicial system, in line with our priorities and schedule" - he explained.

"This ruling is of crucial importance for us as citizens, as well for Polish judges" - Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram from "Free Courts Initiative" told TVN24. She added there was a possibility the case would be referred to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR. "We shall see. Poland will certainly file such motion. It's not certain whether the Court will approve it" - she said.