Tensions Rise as Police Deploy Amid Stand-off Over Poland’s Constitutional Court Control

Riot police were deployed around the court building to block demonstrators from gaining entry during the escalating standoff.

In a social media statement, the Constitutional Court asserted that the two judges targeted by the government for prosecution remain the legally appointed senior justices of the tribunal.

“All individuals participating in these actions are committing the crime of a coup d’état,” the court declared.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on social media, “Restoring the rule of law is our duty. After years of Law and Justice’s lawlessness, this is a difficult, sometimes painful process that requires decisive action. There is no other way.”

President Karol Nawrocki, backed by the Law and Justice party (PiS), abruptly ordered his plane to return to Warsaw mid-flight while en route to Senegal for the Summer Youth Olympic Games.

The PiS-led administration took office in 2015 and quickly appointed judges to the Constitutional Court to secure a majority, as the tribunal holds the authority to rule on the legality of legislation.

Leading European judicial bodies—the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union—later ruled that the PiS majority had improperly elected three judges, as their appointments duplicated seats already validly filled by the previous parliament.

The European courts determined that Poland’s Constitutional Court was no longer an “independent and impartial tribunal,” a finding that Tusk’s government has since cited as justification for halting the publication of the court’s rulings.

Prime Minister Tusk has struggled to reverse the PiS-era judicial changes, largely due to presidential vetoes from Karol Nawrocki and his PiS-backed predecessor, Andrzej Duda, who blocked key reform attempts.

Additionally, President Nawrocki has refused to swear in five Constitutional Court judges elected by parliament since March, citing alleged procedural flaws in their selection.

Among those judges, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, has now been appointed to temporarily lead the court.

Source link