Art. 139 of the Constitution With Regard to the Possibility of Applying the Right of Clemency to Persons Not Convicted by a Final Court Sentence

The paper discusses the legal possibilities of applying the right of clemency by the President of the Republic of Poland to persons who have not been convicted by a final judgment. The purpose of the article was to verify the hypothesis that the Polish Constitution, more specifically, Article 139. does not give the President of the Republic of Poland the power of individual abolition, that is, the application of the right of clemency to people who have not been convicted by a final judgment. The opinions of constitutionalists Prof. Ewa Łętowska, Prof. Andrzej Zoll, Prof. Ryszard Piotrowski, Prof. Stanislaw Waltos and Prof. Piotr Hofmański are cited. The article cites the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court regarding the President of the Republic of Poland’s application of the right of clemency and his powers, subject to verification of the legality of the Constitutional Court’s action with the judges whose status is questioned. The article presents examples of the application of the right of clemency in other countries, such as Ukraine, Norway and Lithuania. On the basis of the analysis carried out, it is proved that Article 139. of the Constitution does not allow the President of the Republic of Poland to apply an act of clemency to persons who have not been convicted by final judgment, and the opinions of the supporters of the hypothesis that Article 139. of the Constitution allows the President of the Republic of Poland to grant individual abolition are not supported by the legal status in Poland.