He was the one who publicly tore up the documents. The Supreme Court did not lift Judge Nawacki's immunity

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court did not accept the request to waive the immunity of judge Maciej Nawacki, a member of the National Council of the Judiciary. It was about the case of tearing documents during a meeting of judges in 2020.

Judge Marek Siwek, in his justification for the decision, noted on Wednesday that Nawacki's behavior itself – “ostentatious and negative” – ​​”was not behavior befitting a judge.” – But it can only be considered in an ethical dimension – he added.

Judge Nawacki expressed satisfaction with the decision made on Wednesday. – Maybe I would have done it differently. I would take a trash can, crumple it up and throw it in the garbage – he replied to journalists when asked if he would do the same thing again.

– The case was, to put it briefly, dull from the very beginning – added Judge Nawacki.

Wednesday's resolution of the Supreme Court rejecting the request to waive immunity is invalid.

The application to waive the immunity of a member of the National Council of the Judiciary and Olsztyn judge Maciej Nawacki was submitted to the Supreme Court's Chamber of Professional Responsibility in December 2024. The prosecutor's office informed that it was based on “the findings of an investigation initiated into the abuse of powers (…) by damage during the Meeting of Judges of the District Court in Olsztyn to documents which he had no right to exclusively dispose of“.

The judges called on the president of the court not to hinder Juszczyszyn's work. Maciej Nawacki tore up the roll call. More: https://t.co/AD5HgGZjNh pic.twitter.com/8ZqJHLT5Kw

— PolsatNews.pl (@PolsatNewsPL) February 7, 2020

The application concerned the meeting of judges of the Olsztyn court on February 7, 2020, during which appeals were made, among others: to the then president of the court, Maciej Nawacki, to refrain from actions that would hinder Judge Paweł Juszczyszyn from performing his duties. Juszczyszyn was suspended from his duties by the then Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court in connection with the disciplinary proceedings conducted against him. During that meeting, 31 judges submitted a motion requesting that the agenda be extended to include voting on three draft resolutions. However, no vote on the adoption of the resolutions took place; President Nawacki tore the documents and closed the meeting. Nawacki assessed that all three projects exceeded the competences of the meeting.

As PG's spokeswoman, prosecutor Anna Adamiak, informed then, “evidence was collected in the case in the form of testimonies of witnesses – judges participating in the Meeting of Judges of the District Court in Olsztyn on February 7, 2020, a report on the inspection of the meeting recorded on a CD and photocopies of the files of the disciplinary proceedings conducted against Maciej Nawacki.”

The prosecutor's office request to waive the immunity was submitted to Judge Siwek, appointed to the Supreme Court after 2017, in the Chamber of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court. The case was heard two weeks ago and the announcement of the judgment was postponed until Wednesday.

Judge Siwek admitted on Wednesday in the justification of the decision that “judicial self-government at the level of the meeting of district court judges could not carry out the task of adopting arbitrary resolutions.” – It is clear that, taking into account the content of these proposed resolutions, none of them concerned the competences of the meeting of judges listed in the law – the judge pointed out.

As the Supreme Court judge mentioned, “theoretically these resolutions could be treated as touching on matters important to a given district court.” – These proposed resolutions raised such important issues. However, the provisions in force at that time stated that only such resolutions could be adopted by the meeting of the district court at the request of the board of the district court. And it is also unquestionable that the college did not submit such an application – explained Judge Siwek.

– We can agree that the application (submitted by 31 judges – PAP) implemented the idea of ​​judicial self-government, but it had nothing to do with the actual tasks of judicial self-government provided for in the Act, and this means that it is impossible to conclude from the negative position on this application expressed in various ways by Judge Nawacki that he could be held criminally liable – emphasized Judge Siwek.

After the events of February 2020, judges from the District Court and the District Court in Olsztyn filed a notice of suspicion of committing a crime, accusing the then president of the Olsztyn court of destroying documents and exceeding his powers.

In June 2021, during the PiS government, the Department of Internal Affairs of the Polish Railways refused to initiate an investigation into this matter. Judges from Olsztyn, including Judge Juszczyszyn, filed complaints against this decision. In January 2023, the District Court in Malbork overturned the decision to refuse to initiate an investigation. The application to waive Nawacki's immunity was formulated by the National Prosecutor's Office on December 9, 2024.

In turn, the disciplinary proceedings against Judge Nawacki in this case were discontinued by the judicial deputy disciplinary spokesman Przemysław Radzik in January 2021. Two weeks ago, Radzik himself spoke about it before the Supreme Court, who does not recognize his dismissal from the position of deputy spokesman – made by the previous head of the Ministry of Justice, Adam Bodnar. – Judge Nawacki showed unnecessary theatrum, but defended the law against anarchist behavior of judges – argued Radzik before the Supreme Court.

Radzik then added that he would present the files of these proceedings to the Supreme Court, but he could not do it because “uniformed individuals accompanied by people impersonating prosecutors ripped open the wardrobe” in the disciplinary spokesman's offices and the files were taken away. Last fall it was reported that the new disciplinary spokesman for judges of common courts was Judge Joanna Raczkowska from the District Court for Warsaw-Mokotów. New deputy spokespersons were also appointed.

During the announcement of Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling, part of the audience protested loudly, tearing and scattering torn sheets of paper and shouting slogans: “Shame”, “This is not a court, a neo-judge”. Judge Siwek appealed for calm.

Marcin Jabłoński (PAP)

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