The robe protects the robe. Lenient courts for judges, ruthless judgments for citizens.
How petty cases expose the double standards of the justice system
What is most outrageous about the Polish judiciary is not individual mistakes. What is most outrageous is the contrast. On the one hand, an ordinary citizen can be prosecuted over a sweet worth 40 groszy, a chocolate bar worth 99 groszy or electricity worth 70 groszy. On the other hand, when judges themselves are involved, the system can spend years finding mitigating circumstances, postponing proceedings and suspending cases simply because there is a deeply entrenched principle: The Robe Protects the Robe.
This article reveals something profoundly dangerous for society: systemic corruption of standards. A mechanism in which a weak, ill, poor or simply isolated citizen facing the state encounters ruthless formalism, while a representative of the judicial establishment can often benefit from an entire range of connections, immunities, delays and the strategic use of internal procedures.
PLN 50 that, for an ordinary citizen, could mean criminal proceedings and a conviction. For a judge, alleged “absent-mindedness” and acquittal.
One of the most symbolic examples is the case of Judge Mirosław Topyła, at the time Vice-President of the District Court in Żyrardów. On 3 March 2017, at a petrol station near Sochaczew, he took a PLN 50 banknote from the counter that had been left there by another customer. The Court of Appeal in Łódź, acting as a disciplinary court of first instance, imposed the penalty of removal from office. But on 20 February 2018, the Supreme Court, sitting as the Disciplinary Court, case no. SNO 37/17, acquitted him of the disciplinary charge. The Supreme Court found that the prosecutor had failed to prove an intention to misappropriate the money, and significant weight was attached to a psychological opinion according to which the accused judge was a responsible but “absent-minded” person.
According to media reports by TVN24, the reporting judge was Supreme Court Judge Agnieszka Piotrowska, while Rzeczpospolita reported that the panel was chaired by Judge Wiesław Kozielewicz.
And here is the question that should be asked publicly: how many ordinary citizens, caught on CCTV taking someone else’s money, would receive such an in-depth analysis of their personality, life history, exhaustion and psychological profile?
This is not an isolated phenomenon in the Polish judiciary, but part of a much deeper problem. Over the years, a dense network of family, social, academic and professional ties has developed within the judicial environment. Numerous associations and organisations bringing judges together, such as Iustitia, Themis, OSSSA, “Sędziowie RP”, GEMME Polska and others, have also created spaces for contacts outside the courtroom. These organisations themselves perform legitimate organisational functions, yet in practice such extensive professional relationships can affect impartiality, transparency and the possibility of informal influence over court cases.
As a result, citizens increasingly have the impression that a closed caste in judicial robes has taken shape in Poland — an environment resistant to real accountability, protecting its own interests and operating according to rules unavailable to ordinary people. Just as other countries speak about the influence of mafias, oligarchs or closed elites, in Poland the symbol of dysfunction within the rule of law is increasingly becoming the network of relationships inside the justice system itself.
A judge stole a small screwdriver accessory worth only a few złoty.
Another case concerns Judge Paweł M. from Szczecin. According to media reports, on 30 June 2016, in a shop in Szczecin, he put an accessory from a screwdriver set into his pocket. TVN24 reported that the judge accepted a PLN 100 fine, while the Regional Court in Szczecin suspended him from judicial duties and reduced his salary by 25 percent.
The Supreme Court, case no. SNO 9/18, reduced the disciplinary penalty to a 20 percent salary reduction for two years. Rzeczpospolita reported that the Supreme Court justified this, among other things, by noting that as an ordinary citizen the judge would have paid only a PLN 100 fine.
This is an interesting standard: when the citizen happens to be a judge, the system is capable of calculating the real financial burden of a sanction and seeking proportionality. When the citizen is a pensioner prosecuted over a sweet worth 40 groszy, proportionality suddenly looks very different.
Robert W. — finally convicted, yet for years he still retained the status of a judge
An even more striking example is the case of Robert W., a judge of the Court of Appeal in Wrocław. The National Prosecutor’s Office reported that on 4 February 2017, in a Media Markt store in Wałbrzych, Robert W. and his wife Ewa W. stole two speakers, two USB flash drives and a cable, and that on 6 February 2017, in a Media Markt store in Wrocław, Robert W. was alleged to have stolen additional equipment, including speakers, USB drives, microSD cards and headphones. The prosecution described CCTV footage, pliers, a knife and the breaking of security devices.
Robert W. was finally convicted and sentenced to one year of imprisonment, suspended for three years. Yet in June 2024, Rzeczpospolita reported that the disciplinary case had become “stuck” in the Supreme Court, and that although Robert W. was no longer adjudicating, he still retained the status of a judge and received 50 percent of the salary of a Court of Appeal judge — approximately PLN 10,000 per month.
It was only on 3 October 2024 that the Supreme Court’s Chamber of Professional Responsibility finally removed Robert W. from the judiciary. Onet reported that the disciplinary proceedings had continued since 2018, and that for years the finally convicted judge continued to hold judicial status and receive the remuneration attached to it.
This is a textbook example of institutional pathology: there is not even any need to prove corruption in the classic sense of an envelope passed under the table. It is enough to show that when one of “their own” is involved, the system operates more slowly, more cautiously, more comfortably and with far more safeguards.
Waldemar M. — alcohol, a collision, fleeing the scene and a formal barrier to accountability
In the case of Judge Waldemar M. of the Regional Court in Suwałki, the media reported an incident from August 2018 involving drunk driving, a road collision and fleeing the scene. Radio Białystok reported that after he was detained, he had a blood alcohol level of 1.8‰.
The Polish Press Agency reported that on 7 February 2024, the District Court in Ostróda sentenced the judge to a PLN 20,000 fine and imposed a six-year driving ban. However, on 26 April 2024, RMF24, citing PAP and the court spokesman, reported that the Regional Court in Elbląg discontinued the proceedings because the required authorisation to prosecute had not been obtained.
An ordinary citizen who drives under the influence of alcohol, causes a collision and flees the scene would hardly expect formal deficiencies to be analysed for years so effectively that the case ultimately ends in discontinuation. Yet colleagues wearing judicial robes failed for years to bring about a simple and socially understandable conclusion to the case.
And now the other side: an ordinary citizen and a sweet worth 40 groszy
For contrast, there is Roman Wawrzyniak, a pensioner from Szczecin. On 4 July 2019, in a shop in Kołobrzeg, he ate a chocolate-covered plum worth 40 groszy. TVN24 reported that on 27 September 2019, the District Court in Kołobrzeg issued a penal order without the participation of the parties: one month of restriction of liberty and 20 hours of community service.
After an objection was filed, the case went to a full hearing. On 6 February 2020, Judge Klaudia Juraszczyk of the District Court in Kołobrzeg imposed a PLN 20 fine and PLN 100 in costs. Interia quoted her position: “The Court has no doubt as to the defendant’s guilt”; according to the court, it was irrelevant whether the item was a sweet, a bread roll, alcohol or a carton of milk.
The Regional Court in Koszalin later upheld the judgment. RMF24 reported that the case was heard by Judge Przemysław Żmuda, who found no gross disproportionality in the sentence, even though the prosecution had sought a finding of guilt without imposing punishment.
A chocolate bar worth 99 groszy and an ill man in detention
Even more disturbing is the case of Arkadiusz K., a man suffering from schizophrenia and legally incapacitated. TVN24 reported that he stole a chocolate bar worth 99 groszy, was convicted in absentia and fined PLN 100, and when he failed to pay the fine he was sent to detention for five days. Significantly, his legal guardian was not informed about the case, even though, according to TVN24, the guardian should have been notified.
When Krzysztof Olkowicz, the Regional Director of the Prison Service in Koszalin, paid PLN 40 to secure the release of the ill man, he himself ended up before a court. According to Interia, the District Court in Koszalin found him guilty, with the reasoning presented by Judge Anna Sikorska-Obtułowicz. The Regional Court in Koszalin upheld that judgment, and TVN24 reported that the reasoning was delivered by Judge Renata Rzepecka-Gawrysiak, who referred to the social harmfulness of Olkowicz’s conduct.
This case is a brutal symbol of the system: an ill man ends up in detention over a chocolate bar, while the official who shows an elementary human response is himself found guilty. Had the act been committed by a person wearing a judicial robe, the proceedings might have been discontinued.
70 groszy worth of electricity and three months in prison
Rzeczpospolita reported the case of Janusz Z., who was sentenced by one of Warsaw’s district courts to three months’ imprisonment for stealing electricity. After six hearings, the court established that the value of the stolen electricity was 70 groszy. The proceedings were estimated to have cost more than PLN 2,000, while each month of imprisonment generated additional costs of thousands of złoty.
Wprost and Onet repeated the story, highlighting the absurdity of the proportions: 70 groszy of damage, six hearings, an expert, witnesses and three months in prison.
Coffee, a bicycle and a psychiatric institution: when a minor case turns into years of isolation
The most severe examples concern people with mental illnesses or those found legally insane.
Stanisław Belski was placed in a psychiatric hospital following a coffee theft case. Onet reported that in 2007, a Kraków court ordered a preventive measure involving confinement in a psychiatric hospital for stealing goods worth PLN 337.90. He spent eight years there. In 2020, Onet reported that the Court of Appeal in Kraków awarded him PLN 2 million in compensation, while the Supreme Court had earlier criticised the actions of the Kraków court, finding that there had been no grounds for imposing the most severe preventive measure.
Mr Lucjan was placed in a psychiatric facility after being accused of stealing a bicycle worth PLN 400. The Commissioner for Human Rights stated that the district court had relied, among other things, on an opinion by a psychologist who had never examined the suspect, and had failed to provide sufficient reasoning as to why the act was said to have significant social harmfulness. On 27 February 2019, the Supreme Court upheld the Commissioner’s cassation appeal, finding a gross violation of law; Mr Lucjan spent 10 years in the institution — twice as long as the maximum sentence provided for the theft itself.
Here we are no longer talking about a fine, a financial penalty or disciplinary proceedings. We are talking about years of life taken away by the judicial caste.
There are more cases like these, and cronyism in judicial robes should be eliminated. Judges should be elected by the public.
When an ordinary citizen appears before the court, people in judicial robes are ruthless and literal. A sweet is theft. A chocolate bar means a fine and then detention. Seventy groszy worth of electricity means six hearings and three months in prison. A bicycle worth PLN 400 can end in a ten-year stay in a psychiatric institution.
But when the problem concerns a judge, the system suddenly becomes sensitive to context. There is absent-mindedness, work overload, personal circumstances, prior service, psychological opinions, prolonged disciplinary proceedings, formal obstacles, adjournments and judicial status preserved for years.
This demonstrates inequality in real-world treatment. A state governed by the rule of law cannot operate like a harsh machine against a pensioner or an ill person, while behaving like a caring team of interpreters when dealing with members of its own professional environment.
Judicial castes have become a permanent element of the Polish system, much like mafia structures in Venezuela or Colombia, or oligarchic cliques in Russia. The difference is that here they do not always operate in the underworld, but under the authority of the law, inside court buildings and behind the closed doors of professional networks.