File photo: Demonstrators attend a protest outside the premises of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, after the tribunal said on its website that the tribunal’s president Bogdan Swieczkowski, who was a deputy justice minister under the PiS government, had been suspended
The move followed a dispute over the appointment of new judges, whom Święczkowski had refused to allow to take their seats. The latest flashpoint came on Friday, when Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska announced the one-month suspension of Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, and said she would take charge of the institution.
Tusk defended his government’s actions, saying it was seeking to restore the rule of law after years of political interference in the judiciary under PiS, which governed Poland for eight years until 2023. The current dispute has roots in 2015, when PiS came to power and challenged judicial appointments made by the outgoing government. Police also reported three arrests after people tried to enter the court complex.
He described the suspension of the Tribunal’s leadership as a “forcible takeover of a constitutional institution”. Officers said their presence followed concerns about possible threats to judges and staff and risks to public order. Poland’s long-running battle over judicial independence has escalated into a confrontation between prime minister Donald Tusk and president Karol Nawrocki, after the suspension of the Constitutional Tribunal’s leadership triggered protests and a police deployment outside the court in Warsaw. Nawrocki, an ally of the nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) and a vocal supporter of US President Donald Trump, abandoned a visit to Senegal and returned to Warsaw. PiS leaders also condemned the move, accusing Tusk’s government of attempting a coup. Police were deployed outside the court as hundreds of protesters gathered. Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal subsequently found that only three of five appointments made by the outgoing parliament had a valid legal basis. The incoming PiS majority appointed replacements, including for seats that had already been lawfully filled, while then-president Andrzej Duda refused to swear in the three validly elected judges. The latest confrontation followed the appointment of Maciej Berek, a former minister in Tusk’s cabinet, who was prevented from taking his seat last week. The choice has also drawn criticism from within the governing camp, with some questioning whether appointing a former government minister is consistent with promises to depoliticise the judiciary.