Polish president turns back from Senegal trip as top court chief suspended

Polish President Karol Nawrocki turned back his plane en route to Senegal on Friday after police entered the premises of Poland’s top court and its president was suspended. “At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland. I am cutting short my flight to Senegal. I am returning,” he said on social media. Police said officers entered the premises of the Constitutional Tribunal after incidents outside the court, including the throwing of dangerous objects at police. The tribunal said on its website that the court’s president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, had been suspended on Friday. A long-running political dispute over the Constitutional Tribunal has effectively paralysed the institution. Earlier this year, Nawrocki, an ally of Poland’s former nationalist government of the Law and Justice or PiS party, refused to swear in three of six judges nominated by parliament, while Swieczkowski, who was a deputy justice minister under PiS, declined to allow judges elected by the current parliamentary majority to assume their duties. Restoring the rule of law is the government’s duty, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X later on Friday. “After years of lawlessness under PiS, this process is difficult, at times even painful, and requires decisive action. There is no other way,” he said. Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek told reporters he has requested the lifting of the immunities of Swieczkowski and his deputy for failing to fulfill their duties by preventing judges from performing their work. PiS politicians, including leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said Tusk’s government was carrying out a coup on the tribunal.