Protests Erupt as Poland’s Tribunal Chief Is Suspended

The update

Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal plunged into crisis on Friday evening after Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska suspended the court’s president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and vice-president Bartłomiej Sochański, saying she was taking temporary charge of the institution. The Tribunal’s existing leadership rejected the move, describing it on the court’s social media account as a “coup d’etat.” Police secured the building in Warsaw as protesters gathered outside; three people were detained. President Karol Nawrocki cut short a flight to Senegal, returned overnight, and entered the Tribunal building, calling the events a “breach of Poland’s constitutional order” and a forcible takeover of a state institution. He has called emergency talks with parliamentary party leaders.

Why it matters

The Tribunal has been at the centre of a decade-long fight over Poland’s judiciary. Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-European government, in office since 2023, says it is restoring judicial independence after the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government reshaped the courts; PiS-aligned officials say the government is seizing institutions it does not control. Święczkowski is a former deputy justice minister appointed under PiS, and Nawrocki — also PiS-backed — refused earlier this year to swear in several judges elected by the parliamentary majority. Who controls the Tribunal shapes rulings on the legality of the government’s entire reform programme.

What to watch

The emergency talks Nawrocki has convened; whether the suspension is recognised or reversed in the coming days; the government’s next steps after its justice minister requested the two officials’ immunity be lifted; and the European Union’s reaction.

Sources

• apnews.com — confirming the suspension, the protests and detentions, and the government’s defence of the move
• cnn.com — confirming Nawrocki cutting short his trip and returning to Warsaw as protests grew