The Right to a Public Trial in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Jurisprudence of the Supreme Administrative Court and the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

The aim of the article is to discuss the right to public trial before Polish administrative court in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, taking into account the legal solutions introduced during the pandemic, such as the Act of 2 March 2020 on special solutions connected with preventing, counteracting and combating COVID-19, other infectious diseases and crisis situations caused by them, the relation of the provisions of this legal act to the provisions of the Act of 30 August 2002 – Law on proceedings before administrative courts, the jurisprudence of administrative courts, the standpoint of the European Court of Human Rights in the context of the right to a public hearing, as well as the views of the doctrine. The considerations showed that despite the restriction of the right to open examination of an administrative court case and despite the inevitable imperfections, the introduced regulations regarding remote hearings and referral of cases to classified hearings enabled the efficient functioning of the administrative judiciary during the pandemic. The article is dominated by the formal-dogmatic method. An analysis of the case law of the Supreme Administrative Court and the European Court of Human Rights is also an important element.