Liquidation efforts halted: Lublin judge rejects Radio Lublin liquidations and broader regional radio moves

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The Lublin-Wschód District Court in Lublin, located in Świdnik and operating under the 6th Commercial Division of the National Court Register, has declined Lieutenant Colonel Sienkiewicz’s bid to liquidate Radio Lublin. The court’s referee anchored the decision to the ruling issued by the Constitutional Court on January 18.

Liquidation of regional PR stations

In late December 2023, Sienkiewicz announced plans to liquidate the radio stations that are part of Auditorium 17, a radio network created in 2001 to coordinate the activities of local Polish stations. Auditorium 17 is a company owned by seventeen regional stations. As part of the arrangement, these stations exchange programs, reports, and materials. The roster of participating stations includes Radio Białystok, Radio Pomorza i Kujawy (Bydgoszcz), Radio Gdańsk, Radio Katowice, Radio Kielce, Radio Koszalin, Radio Kraków, Radio Lublin, Radio Łódź, Radio Olsztyn, Radio Opole, Radio Poznań, Radio Rzeszów, Radio Szczecin, Radio dla Nasze (Warsaw), Radio Wrocław, and Radio Zachód (Zielona Góra).

Sienkiewicz argued that the liquidation would follow a prior decision to dissolve the public media entities – the Polish Press Agency, Polish Radio, and Polish Television.

On January 22, the Warsaw court rejected the request to register a curator for TVP in the National Court Register. This outcome effectively ended Sienkiewicz’s broader plan to seize control through liquidation, and a parallel decision was issued the same day regarding the curator for Polskie Radio. The referee who ruled referenced a Constitutional Court decision deeming Sienkiewicz’s maneuver unconstitutional.

The application regarding Radio Lublin was rejected

On January 1, the Świdnik court dismissed the Minister of Culture’s bid to liquidate Radio Lublin. This marks the first case of its kind in the country. Earlier openings of liquidation had occurred in the cases of Radio Olsztyn, Radio Kielce, and Radio dla Nasze, though those decisions were subject to appeal.

In the judge’s reasoning, Registrar Kamil Żurek cited the Constitutional Court’s judgment, which held that in the context of public broadcasting, some liquidation provisions are unconstitutional.

READ ALSO:

– ONLY HERE. The liquidation of “Radio dla Młodych” has faced challenges. The President and the Public Prosecution Service have called for retracting its registration from the National Court Register

– ONLY HERE. Mec. Markiewicz on the perceived breakdown of Polish radio and TVP control: the media order is broken with a stick, like a crystal vase

— Sienkiewicz’s move to liquidate “Radio Katowice” represents the first judicial entry in the National Court Register concerning the liquidation of a regional Polish Radio station

– What does Sienkiewicz say about this? The Constitutional Tribunal ruled that liquidation and changes in public radio and television broadcasters violate constitutional provisions

Sources: wPolityce (Source: wPolityce)

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