FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 52771/22
Krzysztof Piotr SOKOŁOWSKI
against Poland
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 27 February 2025 as a Committee composed of:
Georgios A. Serghides, President,
Frédéric Krenc,
Alain Chablais, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 28 October 2022,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicant’s details are set out in the appended table.
The applicant complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention of a violation of his right to a hearing by an “independent and impartial tribunal established by law” since his criminal case had been decided by a formation of the Supreme Court composed of a judge appointed to that court by the President of Poland, pursuant to the recommendation of the National Council of the Judiciary (Krajowa Rada Sądownictwa, “the NCJ”) as established under the Amending Act on the NCJ and certain other statutes of 8 December 2017. The complaint was communicated to the Polish Government (“the Government”).
The Court received friendly-settlement declarations, signed by the parties, under which the applicant agreed to waive any further claims against Poland in respect of the facts giving rise to this application, subject to an undertaking by the Government to pay him 10,000 euros (EUR). This amount will be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the Court’s decision. In the event of failure to pay this amount within the above-mentioned three-month period, the Government undertake to pay simple interest on it from the expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.
The payment will constitute the final resolution of the case.
THE LAW
The Court notes that the deficiencies in the procedure for the appointment of judges of the Supreme Court, resulting in violations of the applicant’s right to a hearing by an “independent and impartial tribunal established by law” protected by Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, have been established in respect of various Chambers of the Supreme Court: the Disciplinary Chamber (see Reczkowicz v. Poland, no. 43447/19, 22 July 2021), the Chamber of Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs (see Dolińska-Ficek and Ozimek v. Poland, nos. 49868/19 and 57511/19, 8 November 2021) and formations of the Civil Chamber (see Advance Pharma sp. z o.o v. Poland, no. 1469/20, 3 February 2022). In its pilot judgment in the case of Wałęsa v. Poland (no. 50849/21, 23 November 2023), the Court listed several interrelated systemic problems which entailed repeated breaches of the fundamental principles of the rule of law, separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary.
The Court has recently examined friendly settlements reached between the parties in identical cases against Poland and considers that its conclusions are directly applicable to the case under consideration (see I.G. and Others v. Poland (dec.), no. 42668/21, 8 October 2024).
The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the application.
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.
Done in English and notified in writing on 20 March 2025.
Viktoriya Maradudina Georgios A. Serghides
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
Date of receipt of Government’s declaration
Date of receipt of Applicant’s declaration
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses
per applicant (in euros)[1]
52771/22
28/10/2022
Krzysztof Piotr SOKOŁOWSKI
1983
19/11/2024
18/12/2024
10,000
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicant.