Polish President Rejects New Tusk Government's Decision to Dismiss Head of National Prosecutor's Office

Polish President Andrzej Duda has rejected the government's decision to dismiss Dariusz Barski as head of the National Prosecutor's Office.

This was reported by the Office of the President of Poland.

"President Andrzej Duda spoke with National Prosecutor Dariusz Barski and deputy prosecutors. He said that he did not give his consent to the dismissal of the Prosecutor General and did not express an opinion on the appointment of a new Prosecutor General," the statement said.

In view of the above, the President of the Republic of Poland stressed that in accordance with the current regulations, Mr Dariusz Barski is the National Prosecutor. 

On Friday, the Minister of Justice, Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar announced that Dariusz Barski had been reinstated to active duty by Zbigniew Ziobro, allegedly in violation of the rules. The Minister then appointed Jacek Bilewicz as the new acting head of the National Prosecutor's Office.

The Ministry of Justice of Poland announced that Dariusz Barski has not been a national prosecutor since 12 January. The ministry also announced that Jacek Bilewicz, a prosecutor at the National Prosecutor's Office, has been appointed acting National Prosecutor.

In its turn, the National Prosecutor's Office on Friday said that Dariusz Barski is performing the functions of the National Prosecutor, and that the letter from Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar, in which he states that, in his opinion, the National Prosecutor is a retired prosecutor, is not true and will have legal consequences.

Pursuant to Article 14(1) of the Act on the Public Prosecutor's Office, the National Prosecutor and other Deputy Prosecutors General are appointed after receiving the opinion of the President of the Republic of Poland and dismissed with his written consent.

In view of the situation, on Wednesday, in Davos, within the framework of the World Economic Forum, President of Poland Andrzej Duda will meet with the Vice-President of the European Commission, Commissioner for the Rule of Law Věra Jourová to discuss the rule of law in Poland.

The European Commission checks the compliance of Polish laws with EU law and EU treaties. This applies to both the prosecutor's office and the case of Ministers Kaminski and Wonsik.

As previously reported by The Gaze, on Tuesday, 9 January, Polish police broke into the presidential palace in Warsaw and arrested former Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński and his deputy Mateusz Wonsik, who were waiting to meet with the Polish president. 

In a statement, Mariusz Kamiński went on a hunger strike from the first day of his imprisonment. He stated that he considers his conviction and the actions taken to strip him of his parliamentary mandate to be acts of political revenge.