Supreme Court in Poland: judge critical of the government is allowed to work again

Poland’s Supreme Court has upheld the suspension of judge Tuleya, who is critical of the government. The political and financial pressure from Brussels seems to be working – and could help other judges.

Igor Tuleya is on the streets of Warsaw – not in the courtroom, but in front of it. Inside, he’s about to be acquitted. He is actually a judge at the Warsaw District Court. But two years ago he was suspended from work, his salary was reduced and the public prosecutor’s office summoned him. Now the “Chamber for Professional Responsibility” at the Supreme Court decides in his favour.

“We note that Judge Igor Tuleya has not committed a crime,” said Judge Wasek-Wiaderek at the verdict. “There is no basis for the judge not being able to judge and for his salary to be reduced.” On this basis, the Supreme Court decides that the provisional measures are overridden.

It is a judgment with a long history, but above all a great success for all critics of the controversial PiS judicial reform. A stage win – at least.

Tuleya: “A mood like Kafka”

At the end of 2017, Tuleya ruled as a judge that a controversial budget vote in the Polish parliament may not have been lawful, and that the public prosecutor’s office must investigate.

It was a judgment that the government of the national conservative PiS could not please. As a result, Tuleya was suspended for alleged procedural errors and his immunity was waived. The public prosecutor’s office investigated, but against the judge.

Now the Supreme Court declared: “The judge acted within the limits and on the basis of the law. There can therefore be no question of a prohibited act being committed here.”

And judge Igor Tuleya? Maybe relieved after the verdict, but not soothed: “Two years ago I was suspended by something that is not an independent court,” said the Warsaw resident. “And today that decision is being overturned by something that isn’t an independent tribunal. So it’s actually a Kafka-like sentiment.”

Fine by the ECJ: one million euros per day

What Tuleya describes as Kafkaesque madness is the PiS government’s disciplinary body at the Supreme Court. In the summer of 2021, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) declared it illegal because it was capable of encroaching on the freedom of the courts.

Because it nevertheless remained in force, the ECJ sentenced Poland to a fine of one million euros per day. The chamber has since been dissolved, but replaced by an almost identical one for “professional responsibility” – the very one that Tuleya acquitted.

From the point of view of the EU Commission, this is not enough. She calls for the actual end of judges’ discipline. For this reason, billions of euros in European funds are currently being withheld for Poland – money that the country urgently needs in the economic crisis.

Pressure from Brussels could help other judges

Tuleya is the second judge to be rehabilitated by the chamber this week. The protest movement for free courts therefore hopes that the political and financial pressure from Brussels could also help other suspended judges. Two other judges, Gaciarek and Ferek, remain suspended.

“Of course we now expect decisions here too,” said lawyer Maria Ejchart-Dubois. “But the Chamber of Professional Responsibility consists of eleven judges. We don’t know who will decide next time. But the decision may depend on who makes it.” It used to be different when Poles still lived in a legal reality and the constitution was respected, says Ejchart-Dubois.

It is not yet certain whether Tuleya will actually be reinstated by the Warsaw District Court or whether the new verdict will simply be ignored, as has been the case in other cases. Because in Poland there is sometimes a big gap between legal decisions and their implementation.