Former Constitutional Tribunal President Julia Przyłębska and other retired Tribunal judges have expressed in a statement their “unequivocal and categorical opposition” to the events outside the Tribunal overnight from Friday to Saturday. In their view, police entering the Tribunal’s grounds from the Chancellery of the Prime Minister (KPRM) violated the principle of the separation of powers.
The statement was sent to the Polish Press Agency (PAP) on Sunday evening by Tribunal spokeswoman Weronika Ścibor. It was signed by Julia Przyłębska, Mariusz Muszyński, Krystyna Pawłowicz, Zbigniew Jędrzejewski, Justyn Piskorski, Michał Warciński and Andrzej Zielonacki.
According to the statement, the retired Tribunal judges expressed “unequivocal and categorical opposition to the events that took place at the Constitutional Tribunal” overnight from Friday to Saturday.
In their view, the entry of “armed, masked police officers onto the grounds of the Constitutional Tribunal’s headquarters from the grounds of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister violated the principle of the separation of powers and undermined the fundamental principles of a state governed by the rule of law.”
They described the takeover of the Tribunal’s leadership and the suspension of the Tribunal’s authorities by Anna Korwin-Piotrowska as “an act of self-appointment unprecedented in democratic states,” which, in the judges’ view, is “a wholly ineffective usurpation of power carried out without any legal or logical basis.”
The judges assessed that the actions of “persons usurping power and of the services” paralyzed the Tribunal’s work and were intended to deprive “legitimate judges” of the ability to perform their duties in the Tribunal building.
The signatories thanked the citizens who gathered outside the Tribunal building to “defend democracy and the rule of law,” as well as President Karol Nawrocki for coming to the Tribunal immediately.
The crisis at the Constitutional Tribunal began after an announcement posted on the Tribunal’s website on Friday of a break in the duties of Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski and Vice President Bartłomiej Sochański. Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, who was elected by the current Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, was announced as the person leading the Tribunal’s work.
Overnight from Friday to Saturday, President Nawrocki cut short a flight to Senegal and arrived at the Tribunal’s headquarters. Media published recordings showing him entering the Tribunal building and a dispute between the president’s representatives and the people chosen by the current Sejm as Tribunal judges. The sides present differing versions of how the incident unfolded.
After leaving the Tribunal, Nawrocki announced that he was convening urgent consultations with parliamentary groups, arguing that the constitutional order had been violated. Prime Minister Donald Tusk, for his part, declared that “restoring the rule of law is our duty.”
On Saturday, talks with some representatives of parliamentary clubs and caucuses were held at the Presidential Palace.
In the evening, Prime Minister Donald Tusk delivered an address in which he said, among other things, that “the attack on the Constitutional Tribunal and its judges is another stage in the process of destroying the rule of law in Poland by PiS and by Presidents Andrzej Duda and Karol Nawrocki,” and that “the state must be strong and capable of enforcing justice.” (PAP)
