"You Are Not Judges": Polish President Broke Into the Constitutional Tribunal
On the night of October 31, Polish President Karol Nawrocki forcibly entered the Constitutional Tribunal building in Warsaw. The head of state escorted the suspended deputy chief justice inside.
Navrotsky entered the building around 1 a.m. local time, according to Onet. A video released by his spokesperson shows the head of state being shoved near the entrance.
Navrotsky made his way into the court
The Office of the President noted that judges Anna Korwin-Piotrowska and Christian Markiewicz, who were appointed by the current Sejm, attempted to stop him. It was Korwin-Piotrowska who had announced the day before that she was suspending the tribunal’s president.
“You are not judges of the Constitutional Tribunal,”
Navrotsky told her.
Navrotsky pushed his way through the crowd: watch the video
Accompanying the Polish president into the building were the first president of the Supreme Court, Zbigniew Kapinski, and the head of the President’s Office, Zbigniew Bogucki. They escorted the institution’s vice president, Bartłomiej Sokhanski. He took his place in his office and called the orders for his removal “non-existent documents.”
The judges elected by the current parliament flatly refused to hand over the keys to their offices. Government representatives reported attempts by people from the Presidential Chancellery to take them by force.
Clashes continued at the entrance to the tribunal between protesters and law enforcement officers, who blocked the entrance and warned that they were prepared to use force.
Krzysztof Bosak, leader of the opposition “Confederation” party and Deputy Marshal of the Sejm, called the president’s overnight actions a success and suggested that the standoff could last for weeks or even months. Amid the escalating situation, Poland’s ambassador to Romania, Paweł Solokh, resigned.
Escalation of the Crisis Surrounding the Judiciary
The situation surrounding the tribunal reached a peak on the evening of October 30, when police blocked access to the building following reports of a possible threat to the judges. At the same time, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, as the newly elected judge with the longest tenure, suspended the head of the institution, Bogdan Swienczkowski, for one month, and the prosecutor general filed a motion to lift the immunity of Swienczkowski and his deputy.
As a reminder, following the outbreak of clashes near the courthouse, Karol Navrotsky cut short his trip to Senegal.