“If any constitutional body or a member of such a body is prevented from functioning normally, if its work – to which it is obligated – is sabotaged, then both the prosecution service and the Police, acting on the prosecutor’s orders, will intervene,” said today Marcin Kierwiński, head of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration.
On Thursday in the Sejm, a pseudo-oath ceremony took place, during which individuals elected to the Constitutional Tribunal by the Sejm took an oath “before the President” without the presence of the head of state. Legal experts unanimously stress that such a formula cannot be regarded as an oath before the President of the Republic of Poland, and these individuals – four of them – did not effectively assume the office of Constitutional Tribunal judge. Among the participants in the event were also two individuals who had previously taken the oath before the President of the Republic of Poland at the Presidential Palace – Magdalena Bentkowska and Dariusz Szostek.
These individuals submitted written oath declarations addressed to the President at the registry office of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, and after filing the documents, they all proceeded to the headquarters of the Constitutional Tribunal.
The President of the Constitutional Tribunal, Bogdan Święczkowski, informed the four individuals elected by the Sejm that “he cannot recognize that they have established an employment relationship as Constitutional Tribunal judges, because he has not been informed by the President that they took the oath before him, and he must have such confirmation in order to recognize that someone has entered into service as a judge”.
Today, six individuals elected to the Constitutional Tribunal again arrived at the Tribunal’s building early in the afternoon.
Kierwiński: Police will act
Earlier, during a press conference, the head of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, Marcin Kierwiński, stated that the President of the Constitutional Tribunal “is poorly informed”.
“I think all of Poland saw that the judges of the Constitutional Tribunal took their oath, and it is good that they reported for duty”, said the Minister of the Interior.
Asked about possible further scenarios, he replied, “I see that now these judges will do everything to start adjudicating. If that requires going to the Labour Court or possibly filing motions with the prosecution, that will be an individual matter for those judges”.
Later in the conference, when asked about a situation in which a group of usurper judges would not be allowed into the Constitutional Tribunal’s headquarters, Kierwiński responded that the police would act.
“If any constitutional body or a member of such a body is prevented from functioning normally, if its work – to which it is obligated – is sabotaged, then both the prosecution service and the Police, acting on the prosecutor’s orders, will intervene”, he said.
“The Police will enforce compliance with the law in every aspect concerning the Constitutional Tribunal – you can be certain of that”, he added.