POLISH TRIBUNAL ANNOUNCES SUSPENSION OF ITS PRESIDENT

Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal announced on Friday that it had suspended its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, amid a dispute over judicial appointments. Demonstrators gathered outside the tribunal in Warsaw to oppose the decision. Police said they entered the building after people outside threw dangerous objects at officers. Police detained three people. President Karol Nawrocki turned his plane around during a flight to Senegal and returned to Poland.

Święczkowski had blocked judges elected by the current parliamentary majority from taking up their duties over the past six months. Nawrocki had earlier refused to swear in three of six judges nominated by parliament. The former Law and Justice (PiS) government appointed Święczkowski, who had also served as a deputy justice minister. Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek said he had requested the removal of immunity from Święczkowski and his deputy, accusing them of preventing judges from working. PiS governed Poland from 2015 to 2023.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said restoring the rule of law was his government’s duty. “After years ⁠of lawlessness under PiS, this process ⁠is difficult, at times even painful, and requires decisive action. There is no other way,” he wrote on X. Nawrocki wrote on X: “At such a moment, the President must be in Poland.” Critics have accused PiS of placing courts under political control, and some of its judicial reforms led the European Union to impose fines on Poland.