Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal Crisis Deepens as Protests Lead to Criminal Complaints

Bogdan Święczkowski was refused entry to Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal on Monday as demonstrations continued outside the court. Warsaw prosecutors had received five criminal complaints concerning events on October 30 and 31. The dispute now extends beyond the Tribunal’s membership and leadership to police operations and President Karol Nawrocki’s overnight entry into the building.

Monday, November 2, brought no resolution. According to RMF FM, seven people elected to the Tribunal by the current Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, were working inside its headquarters. Święczkowski arrived at the gate, saying he intended to resume work and rejecting the authority of decisions taken by Anna Korwin-Piotrowska. Szucha Avenue remained closed to traffic.

Leadership dispute triggers escalation

The immediate escalation began on Friday evening, when the Tribunal’s website published a notice announcing an immediate interruption of the official duties of its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and vice-president, Bartłomiej Sochański. Anna Korwin-Piotrowska was named as the person taking over the management of the institution.

At the same time, Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek announced that he had submitted five applications to lift judicial immunity: four concerning Święczkowski and one concerning Sochański. The applications ran to 224 pages and were accompanied by 50 volumes of case files. Their submission did not itself lift immunity or establish criminal liability.

Protesters gathered outside the Tribunal, including right-wing politicians and supporters opposing the removal of its existing leadership from their duties. On Friday evening, a security fastening on the gate was cut, allowing Święczkowski to enter the grounds. He was still unable to take up work inside the building.

Police explain their intervention

The Warsaw Metropolitan Police said officers had acted following correspondence from the prosecutor general and a letter from a Tribunal judge warning of potential threats to judges and staff. In a statement dated October 30, police said their officers were on the grounds outside the building, rather than inside the Tribunal’s headquarters.

Police also reported that dangerous objects had been thrown at officers and that three people who climbed over the fence had been detained. They said proceedings would examine suspected unlawful entry. The force denied taking action against the Tribunal’s own guards.

Nawrocki returns to Warsaw

President Karol Nawrocki interrupted his journey to Senegal and returned to Poland. After midnight on October 30–31, he arrived at the Tribunal with First President of the Supreme Court Zbigniew Kapiński. A scuffle occurred at the entrance, after which Nawrocki spent time inside the building.

The presidential administration described his intervention as an effort to defend a constitutional institution. Presidential spokesman Rafał Leśkiewicz blamed Prime Minister Donald Tusk for the crisis and challenged Korwin-Piotrowska’s authority to lead the Tribunal. He also pointed to the dispute over her oath before the president.

Competing claims to legal authority

Korwin-Piotrowska said she had ordered an immediate interruption of the judges’ official duties under Article 130 of the Law on the Organisation of Common Courts. Judges supporting her actions presented them as an attempt to restore the Tribunal’s functioning. Święczkowski and Sochański disputed both the procedure and her authority to use it.

This is the central issue behind the confrontation: the opposing sides do not agree on who can make binding decisions about the institution’s operations. Controlling access to the building allows one group to carry out its activities, but does not itself resolve the legal dispute. Likewise, the description of the intervention as a “coup” remains an allegation by its opponents, rather than an established conclusion arising from the protest itself.

Five complaints and a meeting scheduled for Tuesday

According to information provided to the Polish Press Agency by Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Piotr Antoni Skiba, five complaints had been received by 3 p.m. on Monday. The Law and Justice parliamentary group alleged that Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, Krystian Markiewicz and Maciej Berek had committed an offence against a constitutional body.

A separate complaint concerned the president’s entry into the Tribunal and an alleged violation of judges’ physical integrity. Law and Justice MP Dariusz Matecki, meanwhile, reported a suspected assault on the president.

The complaints contain allegations made by their authors. Their receipt by prosecutors does not establish that the alleged offences took place.

A General Assembly of Tribunal Judges was scheduled for Tuesday, November 3, at 3:30 p.m. at the Tribunal’s headquarters. According to the published document signed by Korwin-Piotrowska, the meeting is intended to consider the institution’s draft revenue and expenditure for 2027.