A few days ago, Tomasz Szmydt, a judge at the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw, appeared at a press conference in Minsk, Belarus. The state-owned Belarusian news agency BelTA reported that he had asked the Belarusian authorities for "care and protection." Then, Szmydt began appearing at Belarusian and Russian press conferences.
It is unclear what damage this judge has done to the state as a spy because that is what he is accused of. But he exposed the level of corruption in the judiciary, known in Poland as a "caste," which is protected by Polish and European elites.
Calling the Polish judiciary a "caste" shows exactly what this group has become. Becoming a judge or lawyer is much easier if you have a family member in the profession. If you don't, it is almost impossible to join it. This closed-off system allowed the creation of mafia-like groups within this group. Judges became untouchable, and many escaped justice when they broke the law. Any attempts at reforms were met with resistance even at the international level, namely from the European Commission and the EU's parliament.
The previous right-wing government lost re-election because it was undermined by the 'caste' seeking revenge for attempted reforms and appointments to the high courts without their consent and against their wishes. All these fights with the European Commission about the so-called 'rule of law' were, in fact, about the judicial caste.
The spy scandal that has erupted left everyone in disbelief, with many questioning how such a security breach could have occurred and how the counterintelligence service could have missed it.
This topic was discussed in the program "High Voltage" on TV Republika.
Janusz Kowalski from Sovereign Poland pointed out that Tomasz Szmydt was associated with one of the associations of judges that attacked the constitutional order of the Republic of Poland.
"There is a question about how these associations are financed and what grants they receive from Berlin, Brussels, or Moscow. ... These associations, this entire caste, need to be thoroughly checked, from A to Z. The most important issue is the transparency of the financing of all these judges' associations that attack the entire legal order of the Republic of Poland, Constitutional Tribunal, etc." – he emphasized.
Joachim Brudziński, PiS MEP, pointed out that "the Polish services had their hands tied since the Supreme Court's ruling in 2000, which stated that every judge is beyond any sphere of suspicion and may be allowed to access strictly confidential information ex officio. We, as politicians, must solve this problem today."
Michał Wawer from Konfederacja pointed out that "we have a dramatic situation from the perspective of state security - we have a judge who probably had access to classified information for many years and probably transferred this information to countries hostile to Poland."
PN: Whether the EU likes it or not, the reforms are coming, and no stone will be left unturned to weed out all the corruption. Finally!!! (Yes, I may be too optimistic.)
- Based on reporting by Niezalezna, Dorzeczy, and Wpolityce.
