PiS is submitting a notification to the prosecutor’s office regarding the suspicion of committing a crime by the Minister of Justice, Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar, regarding the appointment of prosecutors from the National Prosecutor’s Office – informed PiS MPs.
Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar / Tomasz Gzell / PAP
The head of the PiS club, Mariusz Błaszczak, and PiS MP Marcin Warchoł announced at a press conference in the Sejm about submitting a notification “about the possibility of committing a crime by the Minister of Justice, Adam Bodnar”. The former Ombudsman appoints prosecutors to the National Prosecutor’s Office, contrary to the law in force in Poland, this is the subject of our notification, said Błaszczak.
Błaszczak, quoted in PiS’s account on the X website, said that the former Commissioner for Human Rights “commits, in our deep belief, very important violations of the law in force in Poland.” Let me remind you that he appointed the acting National Prosecutor – contrary to the law – and also appoints prosecutors to the National Prosecutor’s Office, contrary to the law. This is a devastation of the justice system in Poland, said the politician.
Błaszczak also recalled that PiS MPs submitted a motion of no confidence in the Sejm against the Minister of Justice.
According to the Law on the Public Prosecutor’s Office, “prosecutors of general organizational units of the public prosecutor’s office are appointed to prosecutorial positions by the Prosecutor General at the request of the National Prosecutor.”
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I have no objections to my work – said the Minister of Justice, Attorney General Adam Bodnar, commenting on PiS’s submission of a notification to the prosecutor’s office regarding the possibility of committing a crime regarding the appointment of prosecutors of the National Prosecutor’s Office.
I believe that what I am doing in the prosecutor’s office to restore the functioning of the prosecutor’s office for the benefit of citizens, to prosecute criminals, to bring accountability, is right, he emphasized.
As I understand it, this is probably not the last notification of this type. I understand that this is treated as a form of pressure on me, he added.
On Friday, the Ministry of Justice announced that Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar appointed six prosecutors demoted in 2016 to the positions of prosecutors of the National Prosecutor’s Office: prosecutor of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw Anna Adamiak, prosecutor of the Warsaw-Wola District Prosecutor’s Office Andrzej Janecki, prosecutor of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw Artur Kassyk, prosecutor Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Łódź Krzysztof Karsznicki, prosecutor of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Kraków Marek Jamrogowicz and prosecutor of the Warsaw-Praga District Prosecutor’s Office Marzena Kowalska.
Prosecutor Dariusz Barski then commented on the case. “I did not send requests to the Prosecutor General to appoint six prosecutors to the positions of prosecutors in the National Prosecutor’s Office,” says a statement by Barski, signed as the national prosecutor.
On January 12, the Ministry of Justice announced that the Prime Minister had entrusted the duties of the National Prosecutor to Jacek Bilewicz. Bilewicz, as acting, replaced Dariusz Barski as National Prosecutor. The Ministry of Justice also stated then that Barski “remains retired, which makes it impossible for him to perform the function of the National Prosecutor.” The ministry argues that the restoration of prosecutor Barski to active service on February 16, 2022 was made by applying the provisions of the act that were no longer in force.
The National Prosecutor’s Office still maintains the position that Barski is the national prosecutor.