In the last weeks of his term, president Andrzej Duda again exercised the right of grace, calling for another wave of discussion on the limits of presidential powers. Just after Robert Bąkiewicz was pardoned, another case came to light. This time, the act of grace concerns a investigator from Krakow, convicted by a final conviction for serious financial crimes. The decision is all the more controversial that it was taken against the unequivocally negative opinion of both the court and the lawyer General.
The information disclosed by the media shows that the president has decided to apply his prerogative to a female convicted of fraud and forgery to the detriment of 1 of the public universities. Although law enforcement and justice have not seen grounds for leniency, Andrzej Duda decided to go another way. What prompted the head of state to make specified an indiscriminate decision, and what will the consequences be?
What is the law of grace, and how frequently did Andrzej Duda usage it?
The law of grace is 1 of the most crucial individual prerogatives of the president of the Republic of Poland, guaranteed in Article 139 of the Constitution of Poland. It allows the head of state to grant a complete or partial remission of the punishment imposed by a final judgement of the court. The president can mitigate the punishment, shorten its dimension, and even order the prosecution to be suppressed. Importantly, this right does not apply to persons convicted by the Court of State.
The pardon procedure may take 2 tracks. The first, standard procedure, assumes that the defendant's motion is given an opinion by the court which issued the conviction and then by the lawyer General. Negative opinion at this phase usually ends the case. However, there is Second mode, alleged presidentialwhere the head of state may initiate proceedings of his own motion or examine the application directly, disregarding the opinion of the court. The President's decision is final and does not require the Prime Minister's countersignature.
Against the background of his predecessors, president Andrzej Duda utilized the law of grace comparatively rarely. During his 2 term, he pardoned 146 people, refusing in 970 cases. For comparison, the statistic are as follows:
- Aleksander Kwasniewski – 4302 pardons,
- Lech Wałęsa – 3454 pardons,
- Bronisław Komorowski – 360 pardons,
- Lech Kaczyński – 201 pardons.
These figures show that Andrzej Duda is the most reserved president of the 3rd Republic of Poland in the application of this prerogative. All the more reason for his all decision in this substance to be of large interest.
A fresh pardon in the shadow of controversy. Who's the decision?
According to the findings of Virtual Poland portal, on 11 July 2024 president Andrzej Duda signed an act of grace towards the female whose data was hidden under the initials of K.Z. She is simply a prestigious student University of discipline and Technology in Kraków. The case in which she was convicted afraid serious crimes of a financial nature.
The female was found guilty. fraud and forgery of documents. According to the judgement of the court, its actions led to an unfavourable regulation with the property of 1 of the public institutions at an amount approximately 51 1000 PLN. The Prosecutor's Office stressed that the act was continuous and that the convicted individual deliberately misled the actual expenditure to extort funds. The rightful judgement in this case was handed down on 29 January 2024 and passed on 6 February.
The pardoning of a individual convicted of crimes that harm public finances, especially in academia, which should have the highest ethical standards, naturally raises questions about the reasons behind the president.
Objection to court and prosecution ignored. What was the procedure?
The details of the pardon procedure in the K.Z. case shed fresh light on the President's determination. As early as March 2024, the convict requested a pardon from the court. Both the court and the lawyer General gave an opinion on the application clearly negative. In standard mode, the case would have been dropped at this phase and would not have hit the president's desk.
However, in April K.Z. decided to take another way and made a request for grace straight to the Chancellery of the President. Andrzej Duda decided to launch the alleged presidential mode which allows him to operate independently of the opinion of the judicial authorities. Although the lawyer General again issued a negative opinion on 9 July, the president only 2 days later, on 11 July, signed an act of grace.
This case perfectly illustrates the strength of the presidential prerogative. It shows that the head of state has the chance to take a decision which is completely contrary to the position of the authorities, which are on a regular basis upholding the regulation of law and which have analysed the case in depth. This inevitably leads to a debate on the transparency and legitimacy of the exercise of this unique power.
Official justification of the Presidential Palace. What determined grace?
In accordance with the announcement of the Presidential Palace, the act of grace applied by Andrzej Duda was not about giving the full punishment, but about softening it. The decision included shortening the period of trial and the order for the detention of conviction. In practice, this means that the information on the conviction will be removed from the National Criminal registry and will be treated as a non-punished individual much earlier than would have been the consequence of the Code.
In the authoritative justification, the President's Office cited respective circumstances. For example, Incidental nature of the act, the erstwhile technological achievements of the convicted and affirmative environmental opinion. It has been stressed that the law of grace is individual and the President, erstwhile making his decision, takes into account the wide context of the life situation of a individual who is not always crucial to the court issuing the sentence.
Despite these explanations, the decision taken in fresh days of office, contrary to the position of the prosecutor and the court, remains controversial. The case of K.Z., like the case of Robert Bąkiewicz, will be recorded in the past of Andrzej Duda's presidency as an example of the usage of 1 of the strongest and most discreet prerogatives the Constitution gives to the head of the state.
Read more:
Duda pardoned again. Convicted of fraud will avoid punishment despite the prosecutor's opposition!
