Nawrocki turns back from Senegal flight as police enter Constitutional Tribunal

Flight turned back over Spain

Karol Nawrocki was due to spend 30 October to 1 November in Senegal on a working visit linked to the IV Summer Youth Olympic Games in Dakar. Flight tracking on FlightRadar showed the aircraft heading for Dakar turning back over southern Spain. Polsat News reporters established that the reversal was connected to the situation around the Constitutional Tribunal, and the president then confirmed the decision in a post on X. In the post he wrote:

“At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland. I am interrupting my flight to Senegal. I am returning.”

The post did not say which event prompted the decision.

Dispute over judge Maciej Berek

The conflict sharpened on 14 October, when Maciej Berek, a former minister in Donald Tusk's government, took the judicial oath at a ceremony in the Sejm after the Sejm had elected him as a Tribunal judge. He then submitted documents to the Chancellery of the President. Nawrocki held that the oath was not taken in line with legal requirements. Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski refused to admit Berek to adjudicating while he awaited the president's position. On 27 October a letter from Chancellery head Zbigniew Bogucki reached the Tribunal, stating the president's view that Berek had not entered into a judicial service relationship with the court. The dispute had already affected foreign travel: in mid-October Nawrocki cancelled attending a meeting of Arraiolos Group leaders in Slovenia, a decision the Chancellery also tied to the Tribunal situation.

Police action at the Tribunal

On Friday, 30 October, the Tribunal's website posted shortly before 18:00 that a break had been ordered in the duties of president Święczkowski and vice-president Bartłomiej Sochański under article 130 of the law on the system of common courts. The National Police Headquarters said officers were carrying out statutory actions on the premises of the Constitutional Tribunal, and that the action was taken partly in response to a letter from Anna Korwin-Piotrowska. She had warned of a possible threat to the life and health of judges. According to media reports, after 17:00 police entered the grounds and the building itself, chains were hung on door handles, and police with the State Protection Service removed the Tribunal Guard from the building. Protesters gathered at the main gate, among them Law and Justice politicians led by party leader Jarosław Kaczyński.

Planned Senegal agenda and delegation

The visit was to include talks on bilateral economic cooperation and Poland's efforts to secure a permanent presence in the G20. Nawrocki had been invited by Senegalese president Bassirou Diomaye Faye and was to take part in events marking the start of the Youth Olympics. Before departure, Marcin Przydacz, head of the Bureau of International Policy in the Chancellery, said meetings with African leaders were meant to win support for Poland's G20 aspirations. He declined to give details of the security side of the trip, but said cooperation on counter-terrorism and possible evacuation of Polish citizens was important, and pointed to cooperation between the GROM unit and Senegal. According to wPolityce, the delegation included general Michał Strzelecki, commander of the Special Forces Component, and colonel Karol Piskorski, a former GROM commander now serving as a presidential adviser.

Games and the Polish team

The IV Youth Olympic Games in Dakar open on 31 October and close on 13 November. On Monday, 26 October, the board of the Polish Olympic Committee approved a squad of 24 Polish athletes, who will compete in 12 disciplines. The Games are the event that gave the Senegal visit its official purpose, while the dispute over the Tribunal moved to the centre of the political agenda on the day the president turned back.