Polish Supreme Court chief accuses government of crime over publication of election resolution

The chief justice of Poland's Supreme Court, Małgorzata Manowska, has notified prosecutors of a suspected crime committed when the government published a recent resolution confirming the result of last month's presidential elections.

The government added an annotation to the resolution indicating that the Supreme Court chamber that issued it is illegitimate. That, Manowski argues, constituted “unlawful interference by the executive branch…and an audacious attack on the independence of the Supreme Court.”

The development marks the latest escalation in Poland's rule-of-law crisis , which has seen the current government repeatedly clash with officials, such as Manowska, appointed under the former Law and Justice (PiS) administration.

On 1 July, the Supreme Court's chamber of extraordinary oversight and public affairs, which is tasked with overseeing elections, passed a resolution confirming that Karol Nawrocki, the candidate supported by PiS, which is now in opposition, had won the presidential election

However, the current government does not accept the validity of that chamber , which was created by PiS when it was in power and is staffed entirely by judges nominated through a judicial body, the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), overhauled by PiS in a manner that rendered it illegitimate .

Therefore, when the resolution was published by Prime Minister Donald Tusk's office in Poland's official Journal of Laws ( Dziennik Usług ), an annotation was added to it specifying that European court rulings have found the chamber not to be “recognized as a court established by law”.

Previously, Tusk had made clear that the resolution would be published with such an annotation because “every ruling of this chamber, the legality of which is questioned not only here in Poland but also by international institutions, is published with additional information about the legal status.”

In a statement on Thursday announcing Manowska's notification to prosecutors, the Supreme Court wrote that the addition of the annotation “constitutes illegal interference by the executive branch…and an audacious attack on the independence of the Supreme Court.”

It added that the law governing the publication of such acts does not allow any additions to be made. Doing so was therefore an “obvious violation” and a criminal abuse of power by a public official – a crime that carries a prison sentence of up to three years.

The Supreme Court also considers that European rulings on the chamber “bear no substantive relation” to the resolution in question because determining the validity of Polish presidential elections do not fall under the jurisdiction of European courts.

Today's announcement came just a day after Adam Bodnar, the justice minister and prosecutor general, announced that prosecutors have requested that Manowska's legal immunity be lifted so that she can face charges on three counts of alleged abuse of power.

Manowska was appointed chief justice in 2020 by PiS-aligned President Andrzej Duda. She is one of the so-called “neo-judges” appointed by the National Council of the Judiciary after it was overhauled by PiS.

Since PiS lost power in December 2023, Manowska has criticized the new ruling coalition, accusing it of “violating the foundations of the constitutional order” and taking “illegal actions” against PiS lawmakers.

Main image credit: Slawomir Kaminski / Electoral Agency