Poland’s international isolation and political uncertainty at home deepened on Wednesday as a purge of the Supreme Court’s justices took effect, with the chief justice defiantly refusing to step down.
First President Malgorzata Gersdorf arrived for work as usual at the court in Warsaw, vowing to continue her constitutionally mandated term, which runs through 2020. The court’s judges support this view.
A large crowd of anti-government protesters cheered Gersdorf on and vowed to defend the constitutional order and fight what they see as the erosion of their democratic system.
Protesters gathered again at night in Warsaw and in another cities, with Lech Walesa, the legendary pro-democracy activist and Solidarity leader of the 1980s, addressing the cheering crowd in front of the Supreme Court building.
“He who breaks the constitution and the division of powers is a criminal, they are criminals,” he said. “We must do everything to send these people away and vote to choose different people.”
While Gersdorf was allowed in to the modern glass Supreme Court building in Warsaw and oversaw a meeting with other judges, it was not clear how she could continue in her role following a new law that lowers the mandatory retirement age to 65 from the previous 70.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the ruling party leader, said in an interview published Wednesday by the Gazeta Polska daily that the judges’ “action” will result in “shameful disaster” for them. An adviser to President Andrzej Duda insisted Gersdorf has no choice but to step down.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki…
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