Day of the Endangered Lawyer 2021 seminar on…
The Day of the Endangered Lawyer 2021 focuses on Azerbaijan. This seminar on 21 January addresses challenges faced by lawyers there in practising their profession.
The Polish president.
Recent amendments to the law on common courts and the Supreme Court, as well as other legislation in Poland have raised alarm. These amendments, adopted by parliament in December 2019, undermine judicial independence and the separation of powers.
Among other things, the amendments provide that any person appointed by the president is a lawful judge and that questioning such appointment constitutes a disciplinary offence.
The amendments also introduce new disciplinary offences and sanctions for judges, and transfer some judicial competencies to committees of court presidents who are appointed by the minister of justice.
We were informed that these amendments were passed in an expedited procedure, without appropriate consultation (even with judicial bodies), and that parliament had less than 24 hours to discuss them.
We call on the Polish authorities to:
We’ll continue to monitor the situation and support the independence of the judiciary, as well as the legal profession as a whole, in Poland.
Our international human rights adviser Dr Marina Brilman was interviewed by the Polish media about threats to judicial independence in Poland.
Our letter also featured in this video (at 2:40 minutes).