The Human Rights Commissioner (RPO) has launched an inquiry ex officio into the order forcing prosecutor Mariusz Krasoń to relocate from the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Kraków to a local prosecutor's office in Wrocław. According to the ombudsman, the decision to relocate Krasoń is seen as a method of persecution.
Prosecutor Mariusz Krasoń, from the Regional Prosecutor's office in Kraków, has recently been transferred to another department of this institution. On Friday, by the order of the National Public Prosecutor Bogdan Święczkowski, he was delegated to the local prosecutor's office in Wrocław. Krasoń was one the signatories of the resolution adopted by the Kraków region, that criticised violating the independence of judges. According to some media outlets, Święczkowski's decision is a reaction to the resolution.
In reaction to to the relocating of Mariusz Krasoń, the Prosecutors' Association "Lex Super Omnia" issued an open letter to the national prosecutor in which they call for immediate revoking of the decision. The association claims that Święczkowski's actions against Krasoń bear characteristics of mobbing.
As the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights informed, Adam Bodnar launched an inquiry into Krasoń's relocation ex officio. "In this case, justification for such decision is necessary, especially that neither the personal situation of the prosecutor, nor the time to adapt his personal life to sudden professional circumstances were taken into account. That's why the national prosecutor's decision could be and is seen as a method of persecution, as well as an attempt to produce a "chilling effect" on other prosecutors, who protest against violating of their independence," the ombudsman wrote in a statement.
The commissioner also pointed out that Święczkowski's decision to relocate Krasoń to District Prosecutor's Office for Wrocław-Krzyki was made based on regulations that did not require the consent of the delegated prosecutor. "Nevertherless, the way in which the decision was taken, its hasty character and not taking personal situation of the delegated person into account, may suggest that it wasn't motivated strictly by the needs of the prosecutor's office," the ombudsman stressed.
He also underscored that a temporary delegation of prosecutors, so that they could perform certain tasks in other offices, is legally permitted. "However, the superiors' decision must be dictated by the understaffing in a given office, correlated with a particular concentration of tasks. In this case, the national prosecutor's premises weren't specified," the RPO statement reads.
The Deputy Minister of Justice Michał Wójcik also commented on Krasoń's case on Tuesday. He reassured that the rotation of prosecutors has been practiced for years and not only since the prosecution law came into force in 2016. "Due to staff shortages in Warsaw's prosecutor's offices, many people have been delegated to other offices. This is a completely normal practice," added the deputy minister.
"When there are staff shortages in a given office, and as far as I know in this particular one there are, the prosecutor has the right to delegate a person to perform certain duties for a period to up to 6 months, without this person's consent. This is a perfectly normal and natural thing to do," Wójcik said.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24