Attorney General Adam Bodnar has sent three of his deputies to work in local divisions of the National Prosecutor’s Office, which fight organized crime. They are Michal Ostrowski, Robert Hernand and Krzysztof Sierak. Anna Adamiak, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, said: “The attorneys general appointed by previous attorneys have expressed consistent opposition to the reform.”
Adam Bodnar sent three of his deputies: Michal Ostrowski, Robert Hernand and Krzysztof Sierak to work in the local offices of the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office. These prosecutors were also the deputy prosecutor general while the current PiS MP Zbigniew Ziobro was working in this position. They themselves are against this decision.
Proc. Adamiac: cooperation should be based on mutual trust and respect for the same values
Spokesperson of the Attorney General, Attorney Anna Adamiak, explained this news on Monday. As he emphasized, deputy attorney generals do not have “legal and strictly defined authority”, they act only with the permission of the attorney general.
“This means that the Prosecutor General decides which of the deputies and which powers are transferred to them. Moreover, the Law on the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Article 3, Clause t 1) designates the deputies of the Prosecutor General’s Office as prosecutors, who can carry out activities related to the activities of the prosecutor’s office. have to perform official duties in the structure of the National Prosecutor’s Office”, wrote the prosecutor Adamiak, adding that this decision of Bodnar does not mean that he is not superior to the other three deputies.
“The task of the Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar to build an independent, apolitical, efficient and professional prosecutor’s office should be carried out in cooperation with prosecutors who share this vision. This cooperation should be based on mutual trust and respect for the same values,” he explained. Adamiac. .
Robert Hernand Pavel Supernak / PAP
Bodnar’s spokesperson on “a legally permitted form of work”
He assessed that the deputies, who “were not appointed by Adam Bodnar, but by the previous Attorney General, today clearly show a completely different way of thinking about the prosecution.” “They express continuous opposition to the reforms that will take place as a result of the change in the position of the Attorney General after the elections on October 15, 2023. This makes it pointless for the Attorney General Adam Bodnar to give them his powers,” said the prosecutor.
“In this situation, the only legally permitted form of work for the above-mentioned deputies is the performance of official duties within the framework of criminal cases at the National Prosecutor’s Office. This is where the General Prosecutor’s Office decided,” said prosecutor Adamiak in response.
Michal Ostrovsky Pavel Supernak/PAP
Hernand from February, Ostrovsky and Sierak from March
Prosecutors Ostrovsky and Sierak are obliged to take up their duties in the so-called PZ-ets (local departments of the National Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime – ed.) on March 3, 2025, and Hernand on February 3 of this year. Ostrowski – in the department of Lower Silesia in Wroclaw, Hernand – in the department of Masovia in Warsaw, Sierak – in the department of Silesia in Katowice. The basis of these appeals, including: art. 31 pair 1 paragraph 1 of the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office, which states that the Prosecutor General is superior to his deputies.
The National Prosecutor’s Office previously reported that Prosecutor Ostrovsky is accused of violating the dignity of the Prosecutor’s Office, related to the “rebellion” and questioning the change of the Prosecutor’s Office leadership, and his case has been ongoing since last day at the GUT Disciplinary Court. June In turn, prosecutor Hernand is accused of violating the dignity of the prosecutor for his behavior on January 12, when he recorded a telephone conversation with Bodnar, which was related to the dismissal of prosecutor Dariush Barski from the position of the general prosecutor.
Ostrovsky, Hernand and Sierac: we were deprived of the opportunity to occupy the position
On Sunday, newly reassigned prosecutors Ostrovsky, Hernand and Sierak posted a statement on X’s website, claiming that Adam Bodnar had tried to disqualify them as deputy attorney general. “Therefore, as representatives of the leadership of the entire prosecutor’s office, who, according to the Law, can only be deprived of the post of Deputy Prosecutor General with the written consent of the President of the Republic of Poland, we were deprived of it. from being able to perform their duties,” they write.
According to the article. Article 14 of the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan “On the Prosecutor’s Office”, the national prosecutor and other deputy prosecutors are appointed to the position after receiving the opinion of the president, and are dismissed with his written consent.
“It is also clear to us that any prosecutor of the National Prosecutor’s Office can be assigned to any unit if his leaders decide that such a delegation will serve the institution. But it deprives us of the position of Deputy Prosecutor General, which is assigned to us. . at the request of the Minister of Justice of the Public Prosecutor, something else, the general by the Prime Minister and after receiving a positive opinion from the President of the Republic of Poland, “said Ostrowski, Hernand and Sierak.
They added that the duties of the Deputy Prosecutor General certainly do not include being a “pure” prosecutor, even, as they noted, in a serious unit like the National Prosecutor’s Office.
Krzysztof Sierak Tomasz Jastrzebowski/JOURNALIST
Former Prosecutor General and former head of the Ministry of Justice Zbigniew Ziob also assessed that this is another clear deprivation of President Andrzej Duda’s legal powers. “The president’s approval is a legal guarantee to protect the deputy attorney generals from the political pressure of the government,” Ziobro wrote on the X platform on Monday.
Conflict in the prosecutor’s office
The conflict in the prosecutor’s office is related to the change in the leadership of the National Prosecutor’s Office, which took place on January 12. On that day, Adam Bodnar handed over a document to Dariusz Barski, who was acting as the national prosecutor, stating that his reinstatement was “in violation of the current regulations and has no legal effect.”
This decision caused controversy. Barski, who was supported by President Andrzej Duda in this matter, was one of the close associates of Zbigniew Ziobro, who reinstated Barski on February 16, 2022.
Therefore, in January, by the decision of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, prosecutor Jacek Bilewicz (currently Deputy Prosecutor General) became acting national prosecutor, so that Barski’s successor could be elected in the competition. In the second half of February, prosecutor Dariusz Korneluk, who was appointed by the head of government in mid-March as the new national prosecutor, won this competition.
Main photo source: Tomasz Jastrzebowski / Report, Paweł Supernak / PAP
