2024-01-12 21:48 update: 2024-01-14, 13:12
Photo PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, has described a decision by the justice minister and prosecutor general to remove the national prosecutor from office as a violation of law.
"A change in the post of national prosecutor is the responsibility of the prime minister and prosecutor general in cooperation with the president," Duda wrote on the X platform on Friday evening.
"The steps taken by (Justice Minister and Prosecutor General - PAP) Adam Bodnar without the participation of the prime minister and president is another violation of law (of both the law and Article 7 of the Constitution)," he added.
"Minister Adam Bodnar is trying to remove Dariusz Barski from the post of national prosecutor despite having no individual competences to do this," Duda said, adding that he (Bodnar -PAP) had handed over his 'decision' to prosecutor Barski.
Earlier in the day, the Justice Ministry announced that, as of Friday, Dariusz Barski is no longer the head of the National Prosecutor's Office.
"The return of Dariusz Barski to active service in 2022 was carried out without any legal basis," the ministry wrote in a statement.
"This means that, not being in active service, he does not meet the conditions to hold the post of national prosecutor and does not hold the post of the head of the National Prosecutor's Office as of January 12," the ministry said.
Barski, who was the superior of all Polish prosecutors, had been returned to active service on February 16, 2022, by the former justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro. (PAP)
at/md
