The Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs Chamber of Poland's Supreme Court overrode on Friday (Jan. 5) parliament speaker Szymon Hołownia's decision to end PiS MP Mariusz Kamiński's parliamentary mandate. The chamber, which has been deemed an unlawfully appointed body and not a court by the CJEU and the ECHR, among others, made the exactly same decision the previous day (Jan. 4) regarding Kamiński's colleague and fellow PiS member Maciej Wąsik. Last month, both lawmakers were sentenced to two years in prison for abuse of power while in public office years back.
The ruling regarding Kamiński, a former minister of the interior, was issued on Friday by a panel of three so-called neo-judges from the contested Extraordinary Review Chamber - Aleksander Stępkowski, Marek Dobrowolski and Paweł Wojciechowski - during a closed-door session.
On Thursday, a panel composed of judges Stępkowski, Dobrowolski, and Maria Szczepaniec, annuled Sejm Speaker Szymon Hołownia's decision to discontinue the parliamentary mandate of Maciej Wąsik, Kamiński's associate, fellow PiS member, and former deputy minister at the interior ministry.
The term neo-judges was coined to distinguish between the lawfully appointed judges and those who were appointed after the highly contested overhaul of the Polish justice system carried out by the PiS party, no longer in power. Reforms introduced by PiS included changes to the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), a body responsible for appointing judges to the Supreme Court. The overhaul has been found illegitimate by a number of Polish and European courts, mainly due to the increased political influence on the KRS.
"We are dealing with an absolutely unprecedented situation," Hołownia said later on Thursday, adding that, to his best knowledge, his decision revoking the two lawmakers' mandate should not raise any concerns.
The Sejm speaker also said he was waiting for a reply from the Labour Chamber as this was the chamber he had addressed. "Once I have received the Labour Chamber's decision, I will have a substance to make decisions."
A neo-judge Romuald Dalewski, who was supposed to process Wąsik's case together with two other judges, had individually decided to refer the case to the Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs Chamber.
"Case files and original documents coming from the Sejm speaker and pertaining to this case, that the case of Mr Mariusz Kamiński, remain in the Labour and Social Security Law Chamber," the chief of this chamber Piotr Prusinowski told reporters on Friday. "The Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs Chamber does not have these documents," he added.
Prusinowski also said that the Labour Chamber will most likely issue its ruling regarding Kamiński's appeal against the termination of his parliamentary mandate on Jan. 10.
On Dec. 21, following the Warsaw Regional Court's ruling sentencing Kamiński and Wąsik to two years in prison, Sejm Speaker Szymon Hołownia ordered their MP mandates be revoked.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP