Polish justice system 'sick': report

According to the Swedish website, Poland’s courts employ even multiple generations of a single family, including those who started serving during the communist-era, newsbook reported.

The website added that a number of judges have committed crimes and are corrupt, but added that they are untouchable because of immunity, newsbook said.

The portal also said that Poland’s planned reforms, two of which President Andrzej Duda announced he would veto, would make Polish courts more independent than those in Sweden, and that Poland was not “marching towards dictatorship”, newsbook said.

Duda on Monday vetoed two bills, one which would have forced all of the Supreme Court’s judges into retirement and given the president powers to choose who to reinstate, and another to give a three-fifths parliamentary majority powers to nominate judges to an influential judicial ethics supervisory council.

The government recently passed a third bill which would allow the justice minister to appoint judges to the country’s district and appeals courts.

Supporters of Poland’s ruling conservatives have criticised Polish courts for taking too long to hear cases, and have accused judges of being an elite, self-serving clique often out of touch with the problems of ordinary citizens.

But the opposition said the bills were an attack on democracy and accused the government of trying to stack the courts with its own candidates.

The European Commission on Wednesday said it was ready to take action against Poland for violating EU laws – which could theoretically include sanctions – warning that the controversial overhaul of the country's judicial system threatened the independence of courts. (vb/pk)