Disciplinary Procedure in Polish Special Services in the Light of the Concept of a Fair Trial Exemplified by the Disciplinary Procedure of the Internal Security Agency

Abstract

The incentive for contributing this paper is the planned great reform of Polish Special Services. The study attempts to formulate some requirements that should be met by disciplinary procedure. This goal is achieved by analyzing the effective disciplinary procedure in the Internal Security Agency (ABW), the largest branch of Polish Special Services, in the prism of the concept of a fair trial. The assessment of the disciplinary procedure in ABW leads to the conclusion that the effective law has many shortcomings. Major drawbacks are a lack of establishment of the supreme rule of disciplinary procedure and lack of a clear definition in the application of the general rules of criminal law within the domain of disciplinary procedure. The paper concludes that the shortfalls illustrated herein should be eliminated as fast as possible in order to adjust the disciplinary regime to modern standards.