Poland's political, constitutional crisis explained: 5 events that led up to coup attempt
Poland’s fight over its Constitutional Tribunal escalated into coup accusations Friday after a judge the president refused to swear in suspended the court’s chief and took control.
Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, who claimed authority as the judge with the longest judicial career, suspended Court President Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, and put herself in charge, The Telegraph reported. Her seniority claim rests on her judicial career, which began in 1995, not on service on the tribunal, which she joined this year. The tribunal accused Prime Minister Donald Tusk of staging a coup and posted on social media that "all persons participating in these actions are committing the crime of a coup d'état."
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek, who is also attorney general, asked for the two judges to lose their legal protection so they could be charged with failing to do their jobs. He said they had stopped judges chosen by today's parliament from working. "This court has become private property; we must restore its proper functioning," he said.
Tusk defended the move on X. "Restoring the rule of law is our duty," he wrote, adding that undoing years of rule by the opposition Law and Justice party, or PiS, was hard, at times painful, and required decisive action.
The tribunal decides if legislation is constitutional. The fight over who sits on it began in 2015 and escalated over the weekend. Here are five facts to know.
