Justyn Piskorski was elected by the Sejm to the position of Judge of the Constitutional Tribunal, filling the vacancy left by the death of Lech Morawski. The candidate was proposed by the Law and Justice party. “This person should not perform any state function,” argued the opposition.
248 MPs voted for the candidate, three were against and 18 abstained. PO, Nowoczesna, PSL and Unia Europejskich Demokratów did not vote.
“Another act in the show”
Before the vote on the Piskorski candidacy, deputy head of the PO, former Minister of Justice Borys Budka said this was another act in the “show”, which PiS uses to build “one more pseudo-institution”.
“Today's show, which you staged for the Polish people, is pointless, there is no vacancy in the Constitutional Tribunal, because in December 2015 the Tribunal ruled on the legitimacy of the election of three judges of the Constitutional Tribunal. You are distorting the truth, just like you are distorting the truth about the make-believe aid for victims of the storms,” he added.
Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz from Nowoczesna commented that Piskorski “seems to be a person who should not perform any state function. Reading one of the texts authored by Mr Piskorski, one gets the impression that he supports domestic violence and aggression in the family. I quote: «we are witnessing another attack on fatherhood in the form of various legal acts aimed at combating domestic violence»,” said the MP. “Anyone who makes such statements has a place in a gallery of 19th century curios, rather than among people that any party would want to propose for any position in a public institution,” she added.
PiS MP Marek Ast praised Piskorski's “professional qualifications”. “He is clearly, without doubt an excellent candidate for the position of Judge of the Constitutional Tribunal,” he argued.
Career
Born in 1971, Justyn Piskorski graduated in law from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. In 1998 he completed postgraduate studies in comparative law at the University of Bonn (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn). He completed his legal apprenticeship in Poznań. In 2002, after completing doctoral studies, he obtained his doctorate in law at the Adam Mickiewicz University. In 2014, he obtained a postdoctoral degree (habilitacja) in law.
In his research, he specializes in criminal law, criminal policy and criminology, as well as international and European criminal law.
“He is currently employed at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. On 1 September 2017 he was appointed head of the Department of Criminal Law, Faculty of Law and Administration, Adam Mickiewicz University,” states the document produced in support of the candidacy.
A replacement for a “stand-in judge”
Lech Morawski – to be replaced by Justyn Piskorski – was elected Judge of the Constitutional Tribunal by the Sejm in 2015. The then chairman of the Constitutional Tribunal, Andrzej Rzepliński, did not allow Morawski (as well as Mariusz Muszyński and Henryk Cioch) to adjudicate for over a year. The three judges, known as “stand-in judges”, were appointed to the seats which – according to a December 2015 ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal – were occupied by judges who were legally elected in October 2015, but were not sworn in by the President.
After 20 December 2016, when Rzepliński's term of office expired and Julia Przyłębska became the new president of the Constitutional Tribunal, Morawski was allowed to adjudicate.
Professor Lech Morawski died on 12 July at the age of 68.
Źródło: tvn24.pl/tłumaczenie Intertext.com.pl