“Prosecutors must remain calm. The situation is stable and there is no cause for concern. Mr Bilewicz is a prosecutor at the National Public Prosecutor’s Office and does not hold any position there. We expect him to report to work and be assigned tasks typical of any PK prosecutor,” said Michał Ostrowski, Deputy Prosecutor General, in an interview with wPolityce.pl.
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wPolityce.pl: Do you have any doubt who is the legal national prosecutor today?
Michael Ostrowski: I have no doubts, I never have. It’s prosecutor Dariusz Barski. Yesterday’s ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal (the Constitutional Tribunal ‘froze’ the actions of Adam Bodnar at the Public Prosecution Service with an interim decision – ed.) only confirmed our conviction and confirms the fact that the law is respected.
What about Jacek Bilewicz, who sees Minister Bodnar as the legal national prosecutor?
Mr Bilewicz is a prosecutor at the National Public Prosecutor’s Office and does not hold any position there. We expect him to report to work and be assigned duties typical of any PK prosecutor.
Will prosecutor Dariusz Barski assign them to him?
Yes, and in his absence, another Deputy Attorney General, if necessary.
Meanwhile, Minister Adam Bodnar states that his actions of appointing Prosecutor Bilewicz as National Prosecutor are legal and that the backlash is destabilizing the prosecutor’s office and the justice system.
I accept this with the utmost surprise, especially when such words come from the mouth of Prof. Adama Bodnar, an expert in the field of human rights. If Attorney General Adam Bodnar wants to replace the National Prosecutor, he has a simple, legal procedure: he submits a request to the Prime Minister to dismiss the National Prosecutor, the Prime Minister asks the President of the Republic of Poland for written permission , and after obtaining such permission, everything is clear. In this mode, everyone would respectfully accept the Attorney General’s decision.
However, Adam Bodnar does not have the proper signature of the President and believes that Prosecutor Bilewicz is “performing the duties” of the National Prosecutor, raising the issue of Prosecutor Barski’s pension status.
This is a misleading argument. Prosecutor Barski remains active in the prosecutor’s office. This was proven by Adam Bodnar himself, who repeatedly gave orders to prosecutor Barski. The number of these orders that Adam Bodnar issued in a short time is astonishing. I don’t think that Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who has been Attorney General in recent years, would have transferred so many of them to the National Prosecutor.
Is the work of prosecutors at all levels in Poland today threatened in any way? Can they work peacefully?
Prosecutors must remain calm. The situation is stable and there is no cause for concern.
However, in some media and in statements by politicians we hear about dual power in the public prosecutor’s office and the resulting threats.
It is statements like these about ‘dual power’ that threaten the security of the state. There is no question of any ‘dual power’.
Interviewed by WB
Source: wPolityce