Attorney General Adam Bodnar decided to suspend in the activities of Deputy lawyer General Michał Ostrowski, who conducted an investigation into “a creeping coup” at the request of the president of the Constitutional Court, Bogdan Święczkowski. This case concerns the actions of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and representatives of the government and parliament.
On February 5, the president of the Constitutional Court, Bogdan Święczkowski, made a notification to the prosecutor's office, accusing Prime Minister Donald Tusk, talker of the Sejm of Simon Holovnia, and Marshal of the legislature of Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska of committing a "state attack". In consequence to this notice, prosecutor Michał Ostrowski initiated an investigation into the case.
Almost immediately, this decision was met with a reaction from lawyer General Adam Bodnar, who called on Ostrowski to hand over papers concerning the investigation. Prosecutor Dariusz Korneluk, in a speech for TVN24, stated that Ostrowski "does not respect any norms within the prosecution".
This morning it was confirmed that Adam Bodnar suspended Michał Ostrowski for six months. However, the National Prosecutor's Office did not state the authoritative reasons for the decision. It is unofficially said that the main origin was an investigation into the "state attack". Suspended for six months means that Ostrowski must not carry out any duties related to ongoing investigations. Moreover, there is no work to stay at the disposal of the superiors, which in practice means excluding him from the prosecution's activities.
According to the DA's Act, The lawyer General shall have the right to suspend the Prosecutor in the event of serious breaches of procedures or suspicion of deficiency of impartiality in investigations. In this case, the argument may be that Ostrowski acted in a politically motivated way, and his decisions may have been aimed at weakening the government.
The conflict between the lawyer General and his deputy is part of a wider debate on the independency of the prosecutor. For years there has been a discussion about the impact of policy on law enforcement. In 2016, during the reign of the United Right, there was a merger of the functions of the Minister of Justice and the lawyer General, which gave the government greater control over the prosecution's activities. Following the change of power in 2023, the ruling coalition announced reforms aimed at reducing the influence of politicians on the justice system.
Bodnar's decision is widely commented on in the political environment. Government supporters indicate that this is simply a step towards restoring integrity in the prosecutor's office and counteracting its politicisation. On the another hand, opposition representatives, including politicians associated with the erstwhile power, describe this action as a "political cleansing" in the structures of the prosecutor's office. It considers that this is an example of an "attack on the independency of the prosecutor" and an effort to destruct those who could conduct investigations that are inconvenient to the current power.
