WARSAW (Reuters) – Two Polish judges’ right to a fair hearing was violated after they had job applications blocked, Europe’s top human rights court said on Monday in a ruling that questioned the independence of Poland’s judiciary.
The decision was the latest blow to Poland in a dispute with Brussels over the rule of law and judicial reforms which critics say limit the independence of Polish courts. Poland’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice party says its judicial reforms are needed to rid the system of the residue of communism.
Monday’s ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) criticised Poland’s National Council of the Judiciary (NCJ), a public body responsible for nominating judges and reviewing ethical complaints, and the procedure for appointing judges.
Judges Monika Joanna Dolinska-Ficek and Artur Ozimek complained to the ECHR after they had applications for posts blocked in Poland, the largest former communist state in the EU.
They alleged that the NCJ and the Supreme Court’s Chamber of Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs, which heard their appeals, were not independent and impartial.
“The Court concludes that the Chamber of Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court, which examined the applicants’ cases, was not a ‘tribunal established by law’,” the ECHR ruling said.
Poland has to pay the judges 15,000 euros ($17,330) each. The court also said that “in the interests of the rule of law … and the independence of the judiciary, a rapid remedial action on the part of the Polish State is required”.
The European Court of Justice, the EU’s top court, told Poland last year to suspend its Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Chamber, saying it was not independent and breached EU law.
Poland has said it will get rid of the Disciplinary Chamber, with the potential to replace it with a new body, but it has not presented detailed plans yet.
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled this year that elements of EU law were incompatible with the country’s charter, challenging a central tenet of EU integration.
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(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
