Polish foreign minister defends police actions at the Constitutional Tribunal

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski defended the actions of the police at the Constitutional Tribunal building, saying that law enforcement officers were ensuring that lawfully elected judges could resume the institution's work.

He said this to journalists on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta, Bloomberg reports.

"This is about allowing lawfully elected judges to begin their work," Sikorski said, commenting on the police actions amid the escalating conflict over the leadership of the Constitutional Tribunal.

The crisis erupted after the tribunal's president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and his deputy, Bartosz Sochanski, were suspended from their duties for a month. Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, who has the longest tenure at the tribunal, announced that the leadership was passing to her. Police arrived at the institution's premises, and protesters supporting Swieczkowski gathered outside the building.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki cut short a trip to Senegal and returned to Warsaw. He called what is happening a violation of the constitutional order and accused his opponents of attempting a forcible takeover of a state body. Prime Minister Donald Tusk, on the contrary, stated that restoring the rule of law is the government's duty.

The standoff is linked to a protracted dispute over the composition of the Constitutional Tribunal. The parliamentary majority elected new judges, but Nawrocki refused to swear in some of them. As a result, they were not allowed to work, and the dispute over the legitimacy of the appointments has become one of the central conflicts between Tusk's government and the president, who is supported by the nationalist opposition.