Roman Giertych

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Roman Giertych
20070907 sejm rp 100B5384 (cropped).jpg
Roman Giertych in 2007
Deputy Prime Minister of Poland
In office
5 May 2006 – 13 August 2007
PresidentLech Kaczyński
Prime MinisterKazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Jarosław Kaczyński
Succeeded byPrzemysław Gosiewski
Minister of National Education
In office
5 May 2006 – 13 August 2007
PresidentLech Kaczyński
Prime MinisterKazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Jarosław Kaczyński
Preceded byMichał Seweryński
Personal details
Born (1971-02-27) 27 February 1971 (age 50)
Śrem, Poland
NationalityPolish
Political partyLeague of Polish Families
Spouse(s)Barbara Giertych
Childrenfour (Maria, Karolina, Leon, Alicja)
Alma materAdam Mickiewicz University
(M.A. in History, 1994)
(LL.M., 1995)
OccupationPolitician, lawyer

Roman Jacek Giertych (Polish pronunciation: [ˈrɔman ˈɡʲɛrtɨx]; born 27 February 1971 in Śrem, Poland) is a Polish politician and lawyer; he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education until August 2007. He was a member of the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish parliament) from 2001 until October 2007 and the chairman of the League of Polish Families party.

Early life[]

Roman Giertych comes from a family of Polish politicians, a son of Maciej Giertych and a grandson of Jędrzej Giertych. His uncle on his father's side is Wojciech Giertych, O.P., Theologian of the Pontifical Household and professor of theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome.[1][2] Two of his aunts also entered religious life.[2]

Political career[]

Giertych and the LPR have a strong national and anti-EU profile. Prior to the 2003 Polish referendum on EU membership, the LPR campaigned against it, denouncing it as a "centralised, socialist superstate". Officially, the LPR declares that it favours a "Europe of nations". Under Giertych's leadership, the LPR was successful in the European Parliament elections in June 2004, temporarily becoming the second-strongest Polish party with 14% of the votes. His father Maciej Giertych was elected MEP. In the 2005 parliamentary elections, LPR gained 8% of the votes.

In July 2004, Roman Giertych was elected a member and vice-chairman of PKN Orlen investigation commission, which is credited, among other things, with destroying the presidential aspirations of Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz.

Minister of Education[]

On 5 May 2006, Giertych was appointed as Minister of Education and vice-premier, while the LPR joined a governmental coalition with PiS. His nationalist views made the decision controversial by some. The following day, about 100 people protested in front of the Ministry of Education against this appointment.[3] A couple of weeks, later almost 140 000 people signed a petition to remove him from the post.[4]

In March 2007 Roman Giertych proposed a bill that would ban homosexual people from the teaching profession and would also allow dismiss from employment those teachers who promote "the culture of homosexual lifestyle"[5][6]

Legal career[]

After leaving the parliament, Roman Giertych returned to legal practice. He represented Ryszard Krauze, accused of dealing with a gang, in a trial in which the claim was allowed in the first instance, consequently ordering Telewizja Polska (Polish Television) and Anita Gargas to apologize to the entrepreneur.[1] He was also the attorney of Radosław Sikorski regarding offensive comments made on the internet forum of the weekly Wprost website.[2]

Giertych was involved in helping the Jewish community of Góra Kalwaria to reclaim and a process of restoration of a local synagogue. The project span a period of 2 years, culminating in 2016.[7] Roman Giertych has been appointed as the lawyer of the head of the European Council, Donald Tusk, in an inquiry into the cooperation of Polish services with the Russian FSB.[8] He also represented the Tusk family. He was Michał Tusk's attorney in the won case against Fakt daily, as well as in the case concerning a stone thrown through a window of Michał Tusk’s apartment [3]. In addition, Roman Giertych was also Katarzyna Tusk's attorney in a trial, resulting in an apology on the Fakt website, ordered by the Court of Appeal in Warsaw [4]. He represented Donald Tusk in cases before prosecutors, the Amber Gold Investigation Committee [5] and the VAT Investigation Committee [6].

Roman Giertych also represented Gerald Birgfellner in a case against the company Srebrna and his dispute with Jarosław Kaczyński [7]; as well as acted on behalf of Leszek Czarnecki in the case of the so-called KNF scandal [8] and in the case of the so-called GetBack scandal.[9]

In 2009, Roman Giertych won a lawsuit brought against the publisher of the Fakt for the protection of personal rights. In 2017, he finally won a case before the Supreme Court related to the liability of publishers for the content of comments made under articles on websites [9].

The deputy public prosecutor general Bogdan Święczkowski filed a motion against Roman Giertych to the bar's disciplinary court to punish him for the criticism he had expressed towards Zbigniew Ziobro and the prosecutor's office at the end of 2016 [10]. The case was discontinued in 2017 by the Disciplinary Court of the Bar Association in Warsaw, however, the prosecutor general appealed against the decision of the bar body with a cassation appeal to the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, operating since March 2019. The application examined in May 2019 was the first case of this type settled by the chamber. Roman Giertych, commenting on these proceedings, assessed them as an attempt to "intimidate lawyers by the highest organs of the prosecution." He also indicated that, in his opinion, this was related to his activities as a plenipotentiary of Donald Tusk and Gerald Birgfellner. The Disciplinary Chamber, consisting of three judges examining the case, referred it to a seven-person composition for examination. In February 2020, this reversal was finally dismissed.

On October 15 a lawyer and outspoken critic of Poland’s government Roman Giertych was detained on accusations of money laundering.[11] The District Court in Poznań issued a decision stating that the prosecutor's office did not present any indications that the suspect had committed a crime.

On July 20 European Commission published the rule of law situation in the European Union. European Commission indicated that according to the National Bar Council, the prosecution services have recently also been targeting defense lawyers acting in politically sensitive cases, thereby posing a threat to the right to professional secrecy. Commission as an example indicated the case of Roman Giertych of October 15, 2020[10]

References[]

  1. ^ "New theologian appointed for papal household". Catholic World News. Catholic Culture.org. 1 December 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Mickens, Robert (10 December 2005). "Vatican names new papal theologian". The Tablet. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  3. ^ IU: Nie dla Giertycha! Archived 2011-05-18 at the Wayback Machine, Inicjatywa Uczniowska, Indymedia Poland, May 6, 2006
  4. ^ http://www.bezgiertycha.rp4.pl
  5. ^ "Poland: School Censorship Proposal Threatens Basic Rights". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
  6. ^ Chojnicka, Joanna. "Anti-EU and Anti-LGBT Attitudes in Poland: Considering Quantitative and Qualitative Evidence". Baltic Journal of European Studies.
  7. ^ Słowik, Karolina (20 May 2016). "Roman Giertych pomógł Żydom z Góry Kalwarii odzyskać synagogę". Wyborcza.pl Warszawa. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  8. ^ "Donald Tusk claims 'witch hunt' in Warsaw intelligence probe". Financial Times. 20 April 2017.
  9. ^ Reuters Staff (2020-09-21). "Polish bank owner accused of cheating clients, justice minister says". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  10. ^ "Wyborcza.pl". wyborcza.pl. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
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