Justice minister says no probe yet into Nawrocki's Tribunal visit, calls it a raid

A night visit and a disputed push

Polish Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said on Monday evening, 2 November, that President Karol Nawrocki had entered the Constitutional Tribunal in the middle of the night, at a time when Bogdan Święczkowski had been removed from his post as the Tribunal's president. Speaking to TVP Info in the programme 'Pytanie dnia', Żurek described the entry as a 'bandit-style raid' and said the president had pushed his way through people inside the building. He placed the confrontation at the entrance, where judges had gathered to welcome the head of state, and said the president then attacked them. Żurek named Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska as the judge involved and said he had seen the footage of the moment.

Żurek rejected any suggestion that the judge had pushed the president. He said the president had struck her and moved her aside with force, and he argued that anyone who saw it differently would need welding goggles. His words on the moment were blunt.

“He is the one who struck her and pushed her very hard.”

Investigation status

Asked whether prosecutors had opened a case over the entry, Żurek said that no investigation existed at that moment. He said several complaints had reached prosecutors, who were now analysing them. Żurek said he did not want to interfere with the independence of the prosecution service and that he would not decide the matter himself. He added that Chancellery staff who filmed the events inside the Tribunal would have to hand their recordings to prosecutors.

“There is no investigation under way at this moment, but several complaints have already been filed.”

Żurek's remarks on the visit were harsh. He said the president had shown a level of boorishness that was extreme, and he compared the president's conduct to a hooligan from staged fights. He also said the president had placed State Protection Service officers in a difficult position by leading them into a police cordon, which escalated the protest. Żurek said a plan had existed to bring the president safely to the Tribunal through the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and that the judges had been ready to meet him.

“The president showed the maximum level of boorishness, but achieved nothing by it.”

Prosecutor and former KRS chair weigh in

Jacek Skała, a prosecutor, posted on X that a woman who pushed the president, and a colleague who used an elbow, could fall under article 135 §1 of the penal code, which covers an active assault on or insult of the Polish president. He said article 222 §1, on violating the physical integrity of a public official, would apply at the least. Skała argued that under normal conditions such people would be detained on the spot and charged. He also criticised the State Protection Service officers present for failing to react physically.

Dagmara Pawełczyk-Woicka, the former head of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), replied on X. She compared the accusations to a court battle with Żurek that she said had lasted five years, and she accused the president of ramming a judge. Her post and Skała's post describe the scene in opposing ways, and Żurek's account places the blame on the president.

Competing versions of the scene

The accounts of who pushed whom differ sharply. Żurek says the president struck and pushed a judge, while Skała's post describes a woman at the Tribunal who pushed the president and a colleague who used an elbow. Pawełczyk-Woicka accuses the president of ramming a judge in the same incident. As of Monday evening, prosecutors had not opened a case, and the complaints remained under review.