Bolesławiec Without a District Court?

The draft regulation of the Ministry of Justice was discussed during the December session of the Bolesławiec City Council. Rafał Gruca, head of the District Court, spoke. “I think this draft is not good. In the capital, they view the problem of the courts through the prism of Warsaw, Katowice, Wrocław and possibly Gdańsk,” he noted. “Those courts are large organizations in which it is difficult to keep judicial matters organized. Contrary to appearances, small courts handle these matters more quickly. The Minister of Justice is seeking to minimize costs. But the financial consequences of this decision probably have not been fully calculated.

If the regulation enters into force, the Bolesławiec court will become an outlying branch of the District Court in Zgorzelec. “Our city will lose prestige,” Gruca stressed. “Bolesławiec, with 40,000 residents, will be subordinate to a city with 30,000 residents. We must fight to ensure that a district court continues to operate here.

All councillors agreed with the opinion of the president of the District Court in Bolesławiec, while Mayor Piotr Roman jokingly declared that he would even join the Civic Platform if this saved the Bolesławiec court. We will return to this matter.

Update 21-12-2011 11:10

The City Council unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the Ministry of Justice’s plans.

Update 22-12-2011 13:05

Below we present the information published today on the website of the Bolesławiec City Office:

On 21 December 2011, the councillors of the city of Bolesławiec adopted a resolution opposing the plans of the Ministry of Justice. The draft regulation of the Minister of Justice on the abolition of certain district courts, the creation of outlying divisions in certain district courts, and the amendment of the regulation on appellate courts, regional courts and district courts, as well as the determination of their seats and areas of jurisdiction, provides for the abolition of the District Court in Bolesławiec, with its Civil, Criminal, and Family and Juvenile Divisions becoming outlying divisions of the District Court in Zgorzelec.

The Bolesławiec City Council expresses its firm opposition to these plans. There is no justification for the intention to deprive the second-largest urban center in the Jelenia Góra district of its District Court. While understanding the need to rationalize costs, including within the justice system, we cannot accept actions that disregard an obvious fact: none of the previous political and administrative reforms deprived Bolesławiec of its status as a subregional center in the western part of Lower Silesia.

The statement will be forwarded to the Minister of Justice and representatives of the government and local administrations in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship.

(information: ii)