Riot police secure Poland Constitutional Court as Tusk orders judge prosecutions

Riot police are now stationed at the gates of Poland’s Constitutional Court in Warsaw, a direct response to the government’s move to strip two senior judges of their legal protections. The deployment marks the sharpest confrontation yet between Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s administration and the court’s leadership, which remains loyal to the previous right-wing government.

Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek announced that he has formally requested the removal of immunity for Court President Bogdan Święczkowski and Vice-President Bartłomiej Sochański. The objective is to bring criminal charges against both men. This action follows Tusk’s pledge to depoliticize the judiciary after years of control by the Law and Justice party, or PiS.

Protesters from PiS gathered outside the court building on Friday to oppose the move. Police formed a perimeter to keep demonstrators from entering the premises. The Constitutional Court issued a statement on social media claiming that the two targeted judges remain the legally appointed senior justices. The court accused all participants in the government’s actions of committing a coup d'état.

Tusk defended the decision in a social media post, stating that restoring the rule of law is a duty. He described the process as difficult and sometimes painful, arguing that decisive action is required after years of what he called PiS lawlessness.

President Karol Nawrocki, who supports PiS, intervened in the dispute. He ordered his plane turned back to Warsaw from Senegal, where he was traveling to attend the Summer Youth Olympic Games. Nawrocki has previously blocked Tusk’s attempts to reverse PiS-era changes using presidential vetoes. He also refused to swear in five new judges elected by parliament since March, citing flaws in their selection.

The legal conflict stems from PiS-era appointments made after the party took office in 2015. European courts later ruled that three of those judges were improperly elected because they duplicated validly filled positions. These rulings led Tusk’s government to stop publishing the court’s decisions. The Venice Commission, an advisory body for the Council of Europe, recently stated that Nawrocki should swear in the new judges to allow them to sit on the bench.

Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, one of the five judges Nawrocki has not sworn in, has been placed in temporary charge of the court. Żurek argued that the two leaders should face charges for not allowing these judges to adjudicate. Critics, including lawyer Marcin Matczak, argue the move lacks legal basis. Matczak wrote that the suspension buries the court and the rule of law for two decades, predicting a powerful backlash against the government's actions.