By Sohaib Shams
Polish President Karol Nawrocki forced his way into the Constitutional Court on Saturday after a dispute over the suspension of the tribunal's president paralyzed the institution.
Background
Nawrocki had been en route to Senegal but returned to Warsaw on Friday after the Constitutional Tribunal announced that its longest-serving judge, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, had suspended Bogdan Swieczkowski, the court's president and an appointee of the right-wing Law and Justice party. Korwin-Piotrowska assumed leadership of the court.
Confrontation at the court
A video posted on X by Maciej Berek, a former minister appointed to the court by Prime Minister Donald Tusk in September, showed Nawrocki and his staff pushing past people, including Korwin-Piotrowska, who were blocking the entrance.
Political standoff
The standoff between the pro-European government and the nationalist president has effectively paralyzed the court, with both sides refusing to recognize judicial appointees put forward by the opposing side.
