President Andrzej Duda has filed a request with the Constitutional Court to resolve a dispute over powers among the President, the Prime Minister, and the Prosecutor General. The move, announced by the President’s Chancellery, comes amid claims that the National Prosecution Service was being unlawfully targeted for removal.
The petition submitted to the Constitutional Court, details of which were published on the President’s Chancellery website, questions whether the decision to appoint the Prime Minister, at the Prosecutor General’s request, to carry out the duties of the National Prosecution created a judicial function and whether such an arrangement has any legal consequences under the current law governing the public prosecutor’s office.
Bodnar’s attempt to fire the National Prosecutor
On Friday the Ministry of Justice announced that during a meeting with National Prosecutor Dariusz Barski, Minister of Justice Attorney General Adam Bodnar presented a document stating that Barski’s reinstatement to active duty on February 16, 2022 by the previous Attorney General Zbigniew Ziobro was invalid under applicable provisions and had no legal consequences.
The Ministry clarified that Barski would remain retired from January 12, 2024, the date of the transfer of the position of Attorney General, preventing him from assuming the role of National Prosecutor. A short time later, the Justice Ministry announced that Prosecutor Jacek Bilewicz was appointed as Acting National Prosecutor by Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s decision.
PK position
The National Public Prosecutor’s Office asserted that the post of national prosecutor was held by Dariusz Barski and that Bodnar’s letter suggesting Barski was retired had no legal consequences.
President Duda stated that any change in the position of the National Prosecutor, in line with the law, is the responsibility of the Prime Minister and the Attorney General in collaboration with the President.
Adam Bodnar’s action, carried out without the Prime Minister and the President participating, was described as another serious breach of the law by the president.
In the petition to the Constitutional Court, the President argued that the January 12 decision by the Prosecutor General and the Prime Minister violated jurisdictional provisions and procedures and therefore contradicted the Constitution.
The document cited established case law that such acts should be treated as specific, individual applications of the law affected by absolute invalidity when jurisdictional provisions are clearly violated or when proper procedures have not been followed.
— emphasized in the rationale for the presidential motion.
tkwl/PAP/X
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Source: wPolityce