On Tuesday, September 30, Prosecutor Dariusz Makowski filed a petition before the State Tribunal to remove the immunity of Supreme Court President Małgorzata Manowska.
Second Attempt by Prosecutor
The request filed on September 30 marks the second time the prosecutor’s office has asked the State Tribunal to revoke Manowska’s immunity. The first petition, submitted on July 16, was dismissed for lack of substantive review. The prosecutor’s new filing follows a similar procedural pattern, yet the court deemed it irreversible only on technical grounds.
Allegations Against Manowska
Prosecutor Makowski charges that Manowska, as President of the Supreme Court, improperly conducted voting in the Court’s Collegium during 2021‑22, treating missing votes as abstentions and thereby validating 24 decisions despite insufficient quorum. The second accusation concerns her failure to comply with a court order to remove from the Supreme Court’s website a notice that a disciplinary chamber’s decision from February 2020 was suspended. These actions are alleged to exceed her authority and breach duty under article 231(1) of the criminal law.
Procedure for Imposing State Tribunal Immunity
Under law, removing a State Tribunal member’s immunity requires a unanimous vote of the body’s executive committee, with present members comprising at least two‑thirds of its total. The member in question is exempt from voting. The prosecutor’s new petition follows this framework, although it is examined “partly coincident” with the earlier one because that proceeding ended solely for formal reasons.
Fury at the September Session
During a September session intended to consider the immunity petition, heated quarrels erupted. Excluded members attempted to enter the chamber, provoking an eleven‑minute standoff. Chair Piotr Andrzejewski shouted for decorum, interrupting the deputy chair, Jan Dubois. Ultimately, the session was adjourned to September 22, but the actual vote was conducted on September 18 amid the dispute.
