On Friday, judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska took over the management of the Constitutional Tribunal and suspended the current president, Bogdan Święczkowski. Waldemar Żurek, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, commented on the situation in the institution on Sunday.
The head of the ministry said that the resumption of substantive consideration of cases is imminent. It also concerns citizens' complaints, which - as he assessed - have not been considered for a long time.
It is a matter of weeks when we will have the first hearings and the first cases will be considered substantively. It's quick and I'm happy about it, said Waldemar Żurek.
The minister pointed out that one of the urgent tasks of the new management is to prepare the budget for next year. According to him, the previous management failed to effectively bring this matter to an end. He also positively assessed the decision of Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska to convene the General Assembly of Judges of the Tribunal.
Żurek wants the applications regarding immunities to be considered
The conversation also touched on Friday's requests to waive the immunities of persons from the suspended management of the Tribunal. Waldemar Żurek made particular reference to Bogdan Święczkowski, accusing him of believing that he was not subject to the same principles of responsibility as other citizens.
Mr. Święczkowski has been considering himself an outlaw for a long time. Like every citizen, he must answer to an independent court. Święczkowski believes that this does not apply to him, so I would also like my applications to be recognized as soon as possible, said the head of the Ministry of Justice.
The Minister also criticized the way the Tribunal operated in previous years. In his opinion, the institution had become a "shell" that was supposed to meet the political expectations of certain circles.
Nawrocki's night visit to the Tribunal. "Bandit Invasion"
One of the events most sharply commented on by the minister was the night visit of President Karol Nawrocki to the seat of the Constitutional Tribunal. The incident occurred on the night from Friday to Saturday. The president interrupted his trip to Senegal and returned to Warsaw. Earlier, he held consultations with the First President of the Supreme Court and then appeared in the Constitutional Tribunal building at Aleja Szucha.
Recordings showing the moment the president entered the building were published on the Internet. The videos show Nawrocki walking through a group of judges standing in the doorway.
Waldemar Żurek criticized the way the visit was conducted. He drew attention to the behavior of the people accompanying the president and the situation in which the State Protection Service officers found themselves. He thanked the police officers for keeping calm. The minister assessed that simply entering the building may have legal consequences.
I assess his (Karol Nawrocki's - editor's note) entry to the Tribunal itself in criminal law terms. This was a violation of the inviolability of the Tribunal building. His colleagues behaved with complete impunity in the building and I think that the prosecutor's office must draw consequences for this, said the Minister of Justice.
Żurek also appealed for lowering the temperature of the dispute. He also expressed appreciation for the judges who - in his opinion - did not succumb to pressure during the night's events.
I admire them for their heroic attitude that they did not allow themselves to be crushed by this bandit attack by a group headed by the president, he concluded.
The Supreme Court convenes an extraordinary meeting
The president's night visit to the Tribunal took place after consultations with the First President of the Supreme Court, Zbigniew Kapiński. Due to the situation in the Constitutional Tribunal, actions were also taken regarding the functioning of the Supreme Court itself. An order convening an extraordinary General Assembly of Judges was published on the Supreme Court's website. The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 3.
The topics to be discussed include threats to the constitutional order in Poland - in particular, compliance with the principle of a democratic state of law, independence of the judiciary and the proper functioning of the constitutional bodies of the state.
The meeting is to end with the adoption of a special resolution. The President of the Supreme Court justified the shortening of the standard seven-day deadline for notifying about the meeting by the extraordinary nature of the circumstances.
