Opinion of a friend of the court (amicus curiae) in a case of infringement of personal rights

Patrycja Rejnowicz-Janowska
27.11.2023

November 21, 2023 a hearing was held in the case brought by the PiS party against Jarosław Mazanek for the protection of personal rights. During the hearing, an important opinion on the case was presented in the form of an Opinion of a friend of the court (amicus curiae), which was prepared and presented by the Foundation for Freedom and the Rule of Law “Cicero Institute”, whose representative is attorney Patrycja Rejnowicz-Janowska – Senior Associate of the Jabłoński Koźmiński Law Firm.

On August 9, 2023 “Gazeta Myszkowska” published an article titled “PiS is trying to regain the county.” An attempt to dismiss Kępski on Friday”, in which the author of the article – Jarosław Mazanek, expressed his opinion about the Law and Justice party, calling it a “fascist party”.

According to PiS, the above-mentioned term constitutes an infringement of the party’s personal rights in the form of its good name and a clear manifestation of the abuse of freedom of speech.

In the opinion of the Foundation for Freedom and the Rule of Law “Cicero Institute”, there was no unlawful infringement of the PiS party’s personal rights in this case, because the editor (defendant – Jarosław Mazanek) observed the principles of special diligence and journalistic reliability and acted in defense of the legitimate social interest , did not exceed the limits of freedom of speech or acceptable criticism. The Foundation emphasized that parties – just like politicians – should show greater tolerance for criticism of their actions.

Author

Patrycja Rejnowicz-Janowska
Adwokat, Senior Associate+48 22 416 60 04patrycja.rejnowicz-janowska@jklaw.pl

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