Polish Justice Minister Dismisses Rector of Ziobro-Era Academy, Sparking Legal Standoff

Polish Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek announced on Friday, 29 May 2026, that he had dismissed Dr. Michał Sopiński from his position as rector-commandant of the Academy of Justice (Akademia Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości, AWS). The decision, which the ministry described as the culmination of an administrative proceeding launched in March, was based on what it called 'gross and persistent violations of the law.'

Grounds for dismissal

The Ministry of Justice identified three main areas of misconduct. The first involved serious irregularities in doctoral procedures, which the ministry said were not technical or marginal errors but concerned procedures that determine the credibility of an institution authorized to grant academic degrees. The second was 'demonstrative political activity' on social media, where Sopiński had attacked the ruling coalition and its politicians, including calling former Prime Minister Donald Tusk a 'Putin's stooge' and referring to Holocaust survivor Marian Turski as an 'oppressor from the Polish United Workers' Party.' The third area concerned a threat to the curatorial apprenticeship program.

The case did not concern isolated errors, but a repetitive mode of action violating standards of legality, apoliticality, and responsibility.

The ministry stressed that while each area was significant on its own, it was their cumulative weight that proved decisive. Before making the decision, Minister Żurek obtained positive opinions from the General Council for Science and Higher Education (RGNiSW) and the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (KRASP).

Sopiński's response and the Constitutional Tribunal injunction

Sopiński immediately rejected the dismissal. He stated that no administrative decision had been delivered to him in accordance with the Code of Administrative Procedure and that the minister could not remove him due to an injunction issued by the Constitutional Tribunal on 27 May 2026. That injunction, requested by a group of Law and Justice (PiS) MPs represented by Michał Woś and Marcin Warchoł, ordered the justice minister to refrain from actions aimed at suspending or dismissing the rector of the university.

Waldemar Żurek is violating the Constitutional Tribunal's injunction. He has no right to dismiss me. Moreover, he hasn't even delivered any administrative decision to me. A press release is not a source of law.

Sopiński declared that he would continue to perform his duties as rector normally. The AWS Senate had already passed a resolution on 25 March 2026 asserting its exclusive competence to appoint and dismiss the rector-commandant.

The Academy's political origins

The Academy of Justice was established in 2019 by then-Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, transforming the Central Training Center of the Prison Service in Kalisz. Under Ziobro, the academy expanded its profile to include civilian courses and was treated as a training ground for cadres of his Sovereign Poland party. Tens of millions of złoty were pumped into its development annually, including from the Justice Fund. Sopiński, a former activist of Sovereign Poland and an official in Ziobro's ministry, was appointed rector in March 2023 at the age of 30, without a competition, for a five-year term ending in 2028.

Good luck in your further political career, hopefully as far away from public universities as possible.

Previous attempts at reform

This is not the first attempt to remove Sopiński. Former Justice Minister Adam Bodnar had sought to restructure the academy through legislation that would have dissolved it and created a new Academy of the Prison Service under the Director General of the Prison Service. The Sejm passed the bill, but President Andrzej Duda vetoed it in August 2025, in one of his last acts as head of state. The Ministry of Justice noted that Sopiński retains the right to appeal the dismissal, including requesting a reconsideration of the case.