The National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) on Monday afternoon resumed its session devoted to selecting judges to fill the Civic Chamber of the Supreme Court. There are 7 seats to fill and 20 candidates to choose from.
The KRS continues the 4-day-long session commenced on Thursday devoted to selecting the candidates who wil become Supreme Court's judges.
Initially, the session was scheduled to begin at 10am, however, it was delayed because a group of a dozen or so protesters from "Obywatele RP" (Citizens of the Republic) organisation blocked the entrance to the Judiciary Council's session room. About 1pm, with the SGGW President's (Warsaw University of Life Sciences is the owner of the building) consent, the police removed the protesters, asking them several times beforehand to leave voluntarily.
When explaining the situation, KRS spokesperson, judge Maciej Mitera said the Council isn't the building's owner. That's why, he said, the SGGW President was "requested to restore the possiblity of normal functioning".
Judge Mitera also pointed to the necessity of establishing KRS's own premises and called the situation derisory, as "a constitutional body is forced to change its seat and depend on courtesy of other venues".
The KRS spokesperson was also asked by jounalists asked if there will be any restrictions regarding the presence of media representatives in the building.
"Obviously, you are welcome, however, we don't want to let in anyone with unauthorised access, pretending to be a journalist," Mr Mitera replied.
Before commencing the Monday's session, KRS teams interviewed 4 candidates for both Civic and Extraordinary Supervision Chambers, who due to personal issues couldn't show up last week.
In the end of June, an announcement regarding 44 free seats in the Supreme Court was published by the President in "Monitor Polski" (Official Gazette of the Republic of Poland).
On Friday, after examining 5 applications, the KRS recommended a judge from Poznań District Court, Wojciech Sych for the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court.
On Thursday, the KRS convened to fill 16 seats in the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court. The Council made a decision to send a request to President Andrzej Duda to appoint 12 judges. Four seats remain unfilled, as none of the remaining candidates received the minimum of required votes.
Last week, 4 teams of KRS judges interviewed nearly 200 candidates in order to fill 44 seats in the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, the Councilm is expected to fill 20 seats in the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Supervision and Public Affairs.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, PAP
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: Fakty TVN