Because of the number of persons concerned, as well as the scale of the issues raised in this case, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights undertook cooperation with two international law firms located in Warsaw – Salans and Clifford Chance. In the framework of pro bono legal aid, four experienced lawyers and two young lawyers assure complex representation of all nine of the candidates to become judges in the proceedings before the administrative courts and the Polish Constitutional Court.
In total they have lodged approx. 80 complaints concerning different aspects of the refusal to appoint judges. We claim that refusal to appoint judges without giving any justification threatens the principle of independence of judiciary and the separation of powers. Furthermore, lack of justification of discretionary decision by the President is contrary to rule of law principle.
In the course of our litigation we have also managed to draw the attention of national and international bodies concerned with the independence of judiciary to this case. In particular we have written intervention letters to the Polish Judges’ Association Iustitia, to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, to the President of the European Commission).
For the present moment, the constitutional complaints are registered in the Constitutional Court, while the administrative proceedings have been suspended. In the beginning of June 2009 the Polish Ombudsman declared that he supports constitutional complaints and our argumentation. Now we wait for the date of hearing before the Constitutional Court.
The cooperation on that case is a source of great satisfaction for all its participants – the nine persons having been refused to be appointed obtained legal aid for the protection of their individual rights, the pro bono lawyers are working in a spirit of solidarity with the judiciary, the HFHR fulfills its role of acting against violations of human rights in a very particular case raising constitutional questions of crucial importance.
