Top European rights court declares bias in Polish judiciary

STRASBOURG, France (CN) — Two Polish judges who were denied seats by following the country’s highly politicized judicial reforms of 2017 won their challenge Monday at the European Court of Human Rights. 

Judges Monika Joanna Dolinska-Ficek and Artur Ozimek brought the complaint after their applications to a judicial post were denied by National Council for the Judiciary, which appoints the country’s judges and was put in the hands of parliament and the executive branch in 2017.

To critics, the move seemed designed to let the country’s ruling ultra-conservative Law and Justice party kick out judges who don’t agree with its far-right platform. The party meanwhile insists that the measure was taken to remove corrupt Communist Era judges.

Both Dolinska-Ficek and Ozimek lodged appeals that were promptly rejected by the Chamber of Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court, one of two new judicial bodies created by the reforms and made up solely of judges appointed by the National Council for the Judiciary under the new procedure. 

A seven-person panel of the rights court ordered Poland on Monday to pay the judges 15,000 euros ($17,330) each in damages. The ruling slams the appointment process to Poland's judicial council as a “manifest breach of the domestic law” because it was also not independent from the legislature. 

Europeans are guaranteed a right to a trial by an impartial body under the European Convention on Human Rights, which established the court in 1959. Monday's ruling says that the Chamber of Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court was not a “tribunal established by law” because it was possible for the legislature to meddle with its proceedings.

Jakub Jaraczewski, research coordinator at Democracy Reporting International, has been closely watching the judicial reforms. “This judgment once again shows that the court considers the neo-National Council of Judiciary to be a politically compromised and not independent body,” he said in an interview.

One of 57 at the rights court against Poland by current or former judges affected by the changes, the case led the panel on Monday to underscore a previous ruling that said the judicial organization occurred “in blatant defiance of the rule of law.”

The dispute has become a major conflict in European politics. Earlier this year, the European General Court found that the judicial reforms violated EU law. A magistrate for the EU’s high court agreed with that ruling in July, writing that the reforms “undermine the confidence that the judiciary should inspire in a democratic society.” 

“Today's decision will be likely appreciated in Brussels and Luxembourg,” Jaraczewski said.

Last month, the court announced it would fine the country 1 million euros ($1.2 million) per day for continuing to ignore the ruling. Polish Minister Michal Wojcik said the fine has “no legal basis.” 

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