The Warsaw District Court on Wednesday granted Romanowski safe conduct, which would allow him to return to Poland and remain free while the case proceeds, provided he complies with conditions imposed by the court.
The ruling is not final and prosecutors have said they will appeal.
Romanowski, a right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) lawmaker, is a suspect in an investigation into alleged irregularities involving the Justice Fund, a state fund administered by the justice ministry. Prosecutors suspect him of 19 offenses, although some outstanding charges have not been formally presented to him because he left Poland.
His application for safe conduct stated that he was in Tiraspol, in Transnistria, a Russian-backed separatist region of Moldova.
Katarzyna Gajowniczek-Pruszyńska, head of the Warsaw Bar Council, told Poland's PAP news agency that the basic legal conditions for granting safe conduct had been met. Romanowski is outside Poland, attempts to bring him back under a European Arrest Warrant have failed, and he has declared through his lawyer that he is willing to return and participate in the proceedings.
She said his return would allow prosecutors to carry out a step necessary for the investigation, formally presenting the outstanding charges.
"Detention is not the goal," Gajowniczek-Pruszyńska said. "Arrest and pre-trial detention were only meant to be a means, and they proved ineffective."
Under the court order, Romanowski would have to remain in Poland, avoid contact with witnesses and refrain from interfering with the proceedings. Once the safe-conduct ruling becomes final, the existing pre-trial detention order would cease to apply.
The decision has also opened two separate legal disputes.
The first concerns Judge Konrad Mielcarek, who issued the ruling. He was appointed to the district court on the recommendation of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) after changes introduced in 2017 gave parliament a larger role in selecting the council’s judicial members.
The status of judges appointed through that system has been disputed for years.
Lawyer Radosław Baszuk said prosecutors had the option of seeking Mielcarek’s removal from the case but did not do so.
"In my view as a procedural lawyer, they should not raise that argument now," Baszuk said.
The second dispute concerns a 2021 provision allowing prosecutors to object to the granting of safe conduct. Judge Mielcarek ruled that the provision was unconstitutional and did not consider the prosecutor’s opposition binding.
Gajowniczek-Pruszyńska and Baszuk said other courts have reached similar conclusions.
Baszuk argued that if the decision is entrusted to a court, the court cannot effectively be required to follow the prosecutor's position.
Former Constitutional Tribunal judge Wiesław Johann took a more cautious view. He noted that the Constitutional Tribunal has never struck down the provision and said the judge could instead have asked the tribunal to rule on its constitutionality.
Prosecutors can now challenge the decision before the Warsaw Court of Appeal. Until the safe-conduct order becomes final, Romanowski remains subject to the existing detention measures.
(rt/gs)
Sources: IAR/PAP