Nawrocki: Poland's constitutional order was violated overnight and the Constitutional Tribunal was seized by force

Polish President Karol Nawrocki said in a statement on October 31 that the constitutional order of the Republic of Poland was violated overnight and that a constitutional body of the state – the Constitutional Tribunal – was seized by force.

The statement was read out shortly before 5 a.m. by the head of the President's Chancellery, Paweł Szefernaker. Nawrocki said: “I call for the restoration of legal order and for the coercive forces sent there by the government to leave the grounds of the Tribunal.” He said he had enabled the lawfully serving vice-president, Bartłomiej Sochański, to enter the Constitutional Tribunal. Nawrocki also announced that “in connection with the threat to the internal security of the Republic of Poland” he was convening urgent consultations today with representatives of parliamentary forces in order to stabilise the political situation and restore constitutional order. According to him, First President of the Supreme Court Zbigniew Kapiński also does not recognise as legal the actions of those “usurping power” at the Tribunal.

The crisis began on October 30, when Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, acting as the most senior judge of the Tribunal, suspended Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski and Vice-President Bartłomiej Sochański for one month. The Tribunal's existing leadership rejected the move and called it an attempted coup d'état.

On Friday evening, judges elected by the Sejm entered the building escorted by State Protection Service officers through a gate linking the Chancellery of the Prime Minister with the Tribunal building. Tribunal spokesperson Weronika Ścibor said the Tribunal's guards were told to pack their belongings and leave. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Tribunal, riot police secured the building and three people were detained. Nawrocki, who cut short an official visit to Senegal, arrived at the Tribunal together with Kapiński shortly before 1 a.m. on Saturday, and there was a scuffle with a group of judges at the entrance. Nawrocki left the building shortly before 5 a.m.

Polish Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said he was greatly disturbed by the president's behaviour and that he hoped prosecutors would act. According to Żurek, talks were also held with Sochański, but no compromise was reached. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said restoring the rule of law was an obligation for his government and that the process was difficult and sometimes painful after the reforms of the Law and Justice era. Presidential spokesman Rafał Leśkiewicz said the judges had violated the inviolability of the head of state. US Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose urged both sides to avoid escalation.

Korwin-Piotrowska is one of the judges elected by the current Sejm majority whose oath Nawrocki has not accepted. In October, the Venice Commission said the president's refusal to swear in these judges should not prevent them from taking up their posts. Korwin-Piotrowska has called a General Assembly of the Tribunal's judges for November 3. Earlier, Polish police leadership ordered riot police units across the country to be placed on full readiness from November 2 to 8.