Poland’s PM and president locked in a battle over judicial power
Therefore, action had to be taken to enable the Tribunal to function once again. The crisis centres on competing claims over the legitimacy of judicial appointments and the government’s efforts to reverse changes introduced during PiS’s previous tenure.
Justice minister Waldemar Żurek also said he had requested that the two judges’ immunity be lifted to enable criminal proceedings against them. Police were deployed after concerns were raised about the safety of judges and administrative staff, according to the Associated Press. Police said three people were detained after demonstrators breached the court’s fence and threw objects at officers. Speaking to ANI, Poland’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister Radosław Sikorski said, “The outgoing president was preventing the duly elected majority from working—from passing judgments, interpreting laws, or even adopting their own budget.
President Karol Nawrocki cut short his flight to Senegal and returned to Poland as the confrontation between prime minister Donald Tusk’s government and the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party intensified. Officers prevented protesters from entering the building. Meanwhile, Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski, a former deputy justice minister under the PiS government, declined to allow judges elected by the current parliamentary majority to take their seats.
Earlier this year, Nawrocki refused to swear in three of six judges nominated by parliament. Earlier reporting noted: Poland President Karol Nawrocki also cut short an official visit to Africa and decided to return to Warsaw amid the escalating dispute. Poland was plunged into a fresh constitutional crisis on Friday after the president of its Constitutional Tribunal, Bogdan Święczkowski, and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, were suspended for a month, prompting riot police deployment outside the court in Warsaw. Earlier reporting noted: PM-President face-off in Poland: Top court chief suspended, court cries ‘coup d’etat’ as Nawrocki returns PM Tusk defends chief justice’s suspension, president rushes back as court alleges ‘coup’ Earlier reporting noted: Poland witnessed fresh tensions between its government and the nationalist right on Friday after riot police were deployed around the country’s constitutional tribunal following the suspension of its chief justice, Bogdan Swieczkowski.