Police say the 73-year-old man threatened to set fire to the tents of the protest camp at Aleja Szucha, where people have stayed for several days, and made criminal threats against Tomasz Sakiewicz.
Police identified and located the suspect within a few hours of the complaint and detained him on Thursday, 22 October, more than 300 km from Warsaw.
He was charged under Article 190 § 1 of the Penal Code, which carries a fine, restricted liberty or up to three years in prison, and admitted the charges during questioning.
Right-wing groups including Law and Justice organised the protest, which objects to the alleged forced appointment of new judges, after Maciej Berek took the oath as a judge without the president present.
Warsaw police detained a 73-year-old man who threatened to set fire to the tents of a protest at Aleja Szucha, in front of the Constitutional Tribunal building. Police said he also made criminal threats against Tomasz Sakiewicz, head of Telewizja Republika. The protest camp has been in place for several days, with citizens staying on site to defend the Tribunal against what supporters describe as attempts to destabilise it. According to niezalezna.pl, participants responded to the threat by gathering fire extinguishers near the tents. Reports from Polsat News, TVP Info and the police statement place the detention on Thursday, 22 October.
Police said they identified the suspect and established where he was within a few hours of receiving the complaint. He was tracked down and detained more than 300 km from Warsaw the same day, after trying to run, wpolityce.pl reported. Officers from the Warsaw police unit for combating acts of terror and homicide led the case, working with investigators from the force's investigation department. The police statement said:
“He is suspected of committing an offence under Article 190 § 1 of the Penal Code, concerning criminal threats.”
Under that provision, the offence carries a fine, restriction of liberty or imprisonment of up to three years, according to Polsat News. The 73-year-old admitted the charges during questioning. The timeline below sets out the sequence of events reported so far.
Right-wing groups, including Law and Justice, organised the demonstrations in front of the Tribunal, according to Polsat News. Protesters object to what the outlet calls the alleged forced appointment of new judges by the current government. The dispute sharpened after Maciej Berek took the oath as a judge without the president present. During the demonstration, police detained Piotr W. after he allegedly attacked a female officer taking part in an intervention. Polsat News also reported scuffles and insults directed at police, including by Telewizja Republika, which was covering the events on site.
Wpolityce.pl, which sides with the camp, argues that the threats follow weeks of heated rhetoric around the courts. The outlet says the protesters will not be intimidated and will remain at Aleja Szucha. Telewizja Republika broadcast a recording on Wednesday, 21 October, of a call to its hotline in which the caller threatened people in the camp and Sakiewicz. The camp, according to wpolityce.pl, remains in place.
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Police say he threatened Telewizja Republika head Tomasz Sakiewicz and the tents at Aleja Szucha, where protesters defend the Constitutional Tribunal. He was detained more than 300 km from Warsaw on Thursday, 22 October, and admitted the charges.
AI text based on reports by wpolityce.pl, polsatnews.pl, TVP Info and other publishers. Published .