Poland's constitutional tribunal to resume work within weeks

Poland's Constitutional Tribunal could resume its work within several weeks, Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek said on Sunday, Russia's state news agency TASS reported.

Zurek told the TVP Info television channel that the first court hearings and rulings on the merits of cases were a matter of a few weeks away.

He said priority would go to citizens' claims that have been neglected for years.

The political crisis erupted after Prime Minister Donald Tusk appointed Marcin Bereka, a former minister in his government, as a judge of the tribunal.

Protests have been held regularly outside the court building in recent weeks.

On Oct. 30, Zurek filed a motion to suspend Bogdan Swieczkowski, the acting president of the Constitutional Court, from his duties and strip him of his immunity.

Additional police were deployed to guard the court building after the motion was filed.

Overnight into Oct. 31, protesters gathered outside the courthouse and tried to break through the fence, and four people were detained.

President Karol Nawrocki cut short a trip to Senegal and returned to Warsaw because of the escalating crisis.

A number of opposition politicians described the situation as an attempted coup.

The dispute over the tribunal dates back to 2015, when the Law and Justice Party, which Nawrocki supports, began appointing its own judges to posts that were already filled.

That move paralyzed the court and triggered a years-long dispute with Brussels.

After coming to power in 2023, the Tusk government promised to restore the supremacy of law, but its efforts met resistance from Nawrocki, who refused to swear in several judges elected by parliament.

Swieczkowski barred those same judges from taking up their posts.