President of the Constitutional Tribunal (TK) Bogdan Święczkowski has submitted a notification to the National Prosecutor’s Office concerning a suspected crime committed by Warsaw District Court judge Magdalena Wójcik. The matter involves her decision to order the forced detention of former Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro for a hearing of the parliamentary inquiry commission on Pegasus.
In the notification, the President of the Constitutional Tribunal pointed to a reasonable suspicion of “deliberate abuse of power by a public official.” As the Tribunal stated in Friday’s communiqué, the charges also concern “an attempt to instigate unlawful deprivation of liberty by police officers who remain subordinated to the judge.“
Święczkowski argues that Judge Wójcik’s decision undermines the constitutional and legal status of the Constitutional Tribunal and harms both the public interest and the constitutional rights of the person who should be protected. In the justification of the notification, the President of the Constitutional Tribunal referred to the interim ruling of August 8 of this year, in which the Tribunal prohibited Warsaw courts from issuing rulings depriving Zbigniew Ziobro of liberty at the request of the inquiry commission.
This ruling was meant to halt actions against the former minister until the execution of the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of September 10, 2024, in which the Tribunal declared the establishment of the Pegasus commission unconstitutional.
Position of the Constitutional Tribunal
In its communiqué, the Tribunal emphasized its independence, stating: “The Constitutional Tribunal and its judges will not yield to any pressure or the ‘blustering’ of representatives of the executive branch.” The Tribunal also pointed out that “only the possible establishment of a commission in compliance with the legal order in force in the Republic of Poland would allow it to undertake actual and lawful actions, including summoning witnesses.“
The session of the parliamentary inquiry commission on Pegasus, for which Zbigniew Ziobro is to be brought in by the police, remains scheduled for next Monday, September 29.