The president of the Constitutional Tribunal Bogdan Święczkowski warned the Police chief that the detention of Zbigniew Ziobra (PiS) MP would be an illegal act. In a letter published on Thursday on the TK website, he emphasized that "a police officer is obliged to refuse to comply with an order or command of a superior, as well as orders of the prosecutor, state administration or local government if the execution of an order or order would be linked to the offence".
Last week, the Warsaw territory Court decided to detain and force the erstwhile Minister of Justice to attend the session of the Parliamentary Committee on Pegasus. The committee gathering was scheduled for 29 September, after the Sejm agreed on 25 July to halt politics due to his eighth absence at the hearing.
TK competence dispute
Święczkowski referred to the interim decision of the Constitutional Tribunal of 8 August which prohibited the issuing of sentences of imprisonment to Ziobra. The aim was to suspend action against the associate until the judgement of the Constitutional Tribunal of September 10, 2024, in which the appointment of the Pegasus committee was deemed unconstitutional.
The territory Court did not share this argument, indicating that the Court has no competence to interfere in decisions of the general courts. "The court concluded that the resolution (TK) has no legal effect and does not bind the courts against what Mr Ziobro believes" - noted justice Anna Ptazek, press secretary for criminal court.
Charges of Usurpation of Power
Judge Birdiek estimated that the issue of the order by the TK "hits in the rule of legalism, the rule of tripartition of power". "As it were, the Court usurped powers which Article 188 of the Constitution does not provide" - she added, referring to the provision laying down the powers of the Constitutional Tribunal.
In his reply, the president of the Constitutional Tribunal stated that the decision of the territory Court "remains in apparent and gross contradiction with the interim decision of the Constitutional Tribunal and thus has a completely unlawful character". He stressed that the interim provision of the CCC "binding the competent authorities as shortly as service is served".
Background of the Pegasus case
The parliamentary committee of enquiry has wanted to interview Ziobra for over a year in connection with the usage of Pegasus software for surveillance of political opponents. The current procedure was initiated by the committee at the end of June due to another absence of policy at the hearing.
A akin procedure had already taken place on January 31, erstwhile police stopped Ziobra after an interview on tv Republic, but it did not make it to the committee of inquiry. The Commission then requested detention for 30 days, which the court did not take into account.
Commission legality dispute
The erstwhile minister, like another PiS politicians, believes that the committee is acting illegally. In March last year, however, the Sejm adopted a resolution in which it stated that "taking into account in the activities of the public authority the decisions of the Constitutional Tribunal issued in violation of the law could be regarded as a violation of the rule of legalism by these authorities."
Since the adoption of this resolution, the judgments of the Constitutional Tribunal are not published in the authoritative Journal. The committee of enquiry examines the legality, regularity and intent of actions undertaken utilizing Pegasus by the government, peculiar services and police from November 2015 to November 2023.
According to information provided, among others, by NIK Pegasus was purchased in autumn 2017 for CBA for PLN 25 million from the Justice Fund. The Commission is to find who was liable for purchasing this software for the Polish authorities.
Sources used: "PAP" Note: This article has been edited with the aid of Artificial Intelligence.
