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Poland’s constitutional crisis escalated on Friday after two senior judges at the Constitutional Tribunal were suspended and riot police were deployed outside the court. President Karol Nawrocki cut short a trip to Senegal and returned to Warsaw, Anadolu Agency reported.
The dispute between Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government and Nawrocki centres on the tribunal’s composition. The government has suspended the court’s president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and vice president, Bartlomiej Sochanski, and moved to bring criminal charges against them.
Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska issued the orders, accusing the tribunal’s leadership of obstructing judges elected by the parliamentary majority, violating judicial procedures and preventing the court from functioning properly.
The tribunal rejected the orders, saying on its website that Swieczkowski remained its president and Sochanski its vice president. In a post on “X”, it said: “All persons participating in these actions are committing the crime of a coup d'état.”
Protesters gathered outside the tribunal building after the announcement. Some reportedly climbed over the fence and threw objects at police. Police said officers had not entered the building and denied claims that they had stormed it.
President returns as politicians trade accusations
“At such a moment, the President must be in Poland,” Nawrocki wrote on “X”, announcing that he was cutting short his trip.
Tusk said restoring the rule of law was the government’s duty. “After years of PiS-led lawlessness, this is a difficult process, sometimes painful, and it requires decisive action. There is no other way,” he said.
Poland’s Ambassador to China, Jakub Kumoch, resigned following the developments. “In light of the events in the country, I have concluded that it is no longer possible for me to continue serving as the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland. As of today, I have submitted my resignation and a request for recall,” he wrote on “X”.
Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and other opposition politicians arrived outside the court and accused the government of trying to take control of the institution. Kaczynski called the events a “coup against the Constitutional Tribunal” and urged Nawrocki to intervene.
Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who was in Atlanta, in the United States, for a G20 meeting, said measures concerning the tribunal aimed to restore its functioning after its “politicization under the previous government.”
Dispute over tribunal dates back to 2015
The dispute began after the PiS-led government took office in 2015. The party’s parliamentary majority moved quickly to appoint judges to the tribunal to secure a majority there; the court can rule on the legality of legislation.
The European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the PiS majority had improperly elected three judges because the appointments duplicated positions validly filled by the previous parliament. The European courts also ruled that Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal was no longer an “independent and impartial tribunal”.
Tusk’s government has relied on those rulings as a basis for stopping publication of the tribunal’s decisions. After taking office in 2023, Tusk pledged to depoliticize the judiciary, but his efforts were partly blocked by presidential vetoes from Nawrocki and his predecessor, Andrzej Duda.
PiS and Nawrocki have accused the government of using its rule-of-law campaign to remove political opponents from key state institutions.
Nawrocki was expected in Warsaw late Friday evening as the standoff continued and was due to meet Zbigniew Kapinski, the first president of the Supreme Court.
