Lech Wałęsa on ECHR ruling: this is the first step to victory, the truth is starting to prevail

The case "Wałęsa v. Poland" was brought to the ECHR by former Polish president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Wałęsa, who claimed that his country had failed to ensure his right to an independent and impartial tribunal.

Wałęsa also argued that logging an extraordinary appeal in his case by Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who is also prosecutor general, was politically motivated.

The ECHR found that his right to a fair trial was not secured due to "interrelated systemic problems connected with the malfunctioning of domestic legislation and practice". Wałęsa was awarded 30,000 euros ($32,721.00) in damages.

The high court said that "none of the judges of the Chamber of Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court complied with the standard of judicial independence and impartiality as they had all been appointed to the Supreme Court in a fundamentally defective procedure on which the executive and legislative powers had a decisive influence".

The Tribunal in Strasbourg, therefore, urged Poland to take steps to secure in its domestic law compliance with the requirements of an "independent and impartial tribunal established by law".

Lech Wałęsa commented on the ECHR ruling in a conversation with a TVN24 reporter. "I haven't had any doubts, because all lawsuits were ordered by politicians, with the Kaczyński brothers at the helm," he said.

"I'm glad that things are moving in line with the right procedures, that the truth is starting to prevail. But this is only the first step to victory because, when things calm down a little, we shall return to all the cases I've lost and all those people who filed those cases against me must be held responsible and will be held responsible, rest assured," the former president stressed.

Asked to comment on the Tribunal's assessment that the procedures regulating Polish judiciary were defective, Wałęsa said the reason for which he had gone to Strasbourg in the first place was that he shared the court's view on the matter. "Therefore, the assessment is correct, and now we should just begin to fix this (the Polish judiciary - edit.) as well as bring to justice all those who had broken and distorted it, putting Poland at risk of various damage," he added.