In a judgment handed down on Thursday 5 February, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Poland for violations of the rights to access to a court (Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights), to private and family life (Article 8) and to freedom of expression (Article 10) in the ‘Morawiec’ case, which concerns a magistrate, president of the judges’ association, who publicly criticised the judicial reforms implemented in Poland in 2017.
This criticism led to the lifting of her immunity and her suspension by the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, a body which, according to the Court, did not meet the definition of a court established by law.
The Court considered, firstly, “that the measures taken by the authorities [to waive Ms Morawiec’s immunity and to suspend her from judicial duties] could be characterised as a strategy aimed at intimidating the applicant [and, secondly,] that [those] measures undoubtedly had a ‘chilling effect’ in that they must have discouraged not only the applicant but also other judges from participating in public debate on legislative reforms”.
Link to the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/kle (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)