Prosecutor Piotr Woźniak, who heads the investigation, announced the submission of a complaint immediately after hearing yesterday's decision of the District Court. The 13-page justification for the decision was published on the same day, and the deadline for filing a complaint expires after 7 days. The investigator announced that he would include an "argument" justifying the lack of confidence in the claims of the unsuccessfully searched suspect. However, public attention focused not so much on the case itself, but on the person of the judge who issued the decision.
The so-called ruling neo-judge
Even before the participants of yesterday's session left the court building, the Prosecutor General and the Minister of Justice published an entry in which Judge Konrad Mielcarek is called a "neo-judge from the Ziobro stable", and the course of his career is described with the express intention of demonstrating a lack of objectivity. Today, Waldemar Żurek announced a conversation with prosecutors who did not submit an application to exclude Judge Mielcarek from adjudicating.
Specific and general questions
It is worth wondering whether the minister discovered Judge Mielcarek's past yesterday afternoon? And if he knew it earlier, shouldn't he have talked about it with prosecutor Woźniak before, and not after, his ruling?
A more fundamental question is trust in the independence of the judge and the independence of the prosecutor, treated in a peculiar way by a member of the government. A very special one, because it combines the functions of the Minister of Justice (regarding judges) and the Prosecutor General (here, a nod to prosecutors). Should a politician allow himself to berate judges whose independence - although he could as the Prosecutor General - he did not question before the ruling, but only after it turned out not to be what he expected?
What's next in the case?
The next steps are quite obvious; at the next stage in the Court of Appeal, the case should no longer reach the desk of any of the so-called neo-judges. The division of responsibilities shows that it will be drawn by one of the judges of the 2nd Criminal Division, but excluding those working in its so-called Complaint and Application Section. This is a section created two years ago, which brings together only judges appointed with the participation of the so-called neo-KRS. This is where they decide, among others: judges Drajewicz, Lasota, Schab and Radzik, associated primarily with the disciplinary activities of judges when Zbigniew Ziobro was the Minister of Justice.
The safe conduct is ultimately questionable
Due to the controversial nature of Judge Mielcarek's decision, it can be expected that the issue of issuing a safe-conduct to Marcin Romanowski will be thoroughly investigated and the decision will ultimately be repealed. Even if it is based on a provision from the time of Minister Ziobro, stating that it is basically the prosecutor, and not the court, who has the last word on the safe conduct. Yesterday's decision can also be overturned by questioning the credibility of the suspect himself, who, declaring cooperation with the court, informs him that he uses documents issued "for a different identity" and does not explain by whom and in what circumstances.
Without going into details, however, if this happens, Romanowski, who has been wanted for almost two years, will probably continue to hide, because instead of a safe-conduct, an arrest warrant and a European Arrest Warrant will still be in force in his case.
