In August 2016 judge Alina Czubieniak of the District Court in Gorzow Wielkopolski, when hearing an appeal from a ruling ordering pre-trial detention of an intellectually disabled suspect who could not read and write, ruled that he should have had a defence attorney when his detention was being decided by the first instance court. Because the suspect had been denied a defence attorney in first instance proceedings (the attorney had been appointed only in time to appeal the pre-trial detention), ...
Modern European democracies cannot function without truly independent judiciaries. Poland’s authorities should take further steps to restore full independence of the judiciary and act to resolve discord and deadlock that continue to affect the functioning and the credibility of some of the judicial institutions. Judges and prosecutors must be shielded from undue pressure,” said the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović
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