Poland's Constitutional Tribunal plunged into crisis as PiS-linked president suspended

Poland's Constitutional Tribunal fractured on Friday after judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska suspended court president Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy for one month and declared herself in charge, triggering immediate accusations of a coup from the suspended leadership and its allies.

Święczkowski rejected her authority outright, calling the move a "coup d'état." His deputy was turned away at the building's gates. Outside, protesters clashed with police, who said objects had been thrown at officers and three people detained after climbing over the court's fence. Police deployed to maintain security but said they had not entered the building itself.

PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński joined the protest and attempted to force his way into the court building, accusing Prime Minister Donald Tusk of turning Poland into a "police state" and demanding presidential intervention. President Karol Nawrocki, a PiS ally, turned his plane back from Senegal, saying the president must be in Poland at such a moment.

Tusk defended the move, writing on X that restoring the rule of law after years of PiS lawlessness requires decisive action and that there is no other way.

Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek, who also serves as prosecutor general, said he had submitted five requests to lift the immunity of Święczkowski and his deputy, backed by 50 volumes of case files. Żurek accused Święczkowski of turning the institution into his "private fiefdom" and blocking newly elected judges from sitting.

The EU Court of Justice ruled last December that the tribunal failed to meet European standards of judicial independence. Nawrocki had refused to swear in five judges elected by Tusk's parliamentary majority; they took their oaths in parliament instead, but Święczkowski barred them from hearing cases.