Poland questions Błaszczak over oath of elected Constitutional Tribunal judge — RMF24

In Poland, Mariusz Błaszczak, head of the Law and Justice parliamentary club, was questioned on October 30 as a witness and complainant as part of an examination of the actions of Sejm Marshal Włodzimierz Czarzasty during the oath-taking by Maciej Berek. This was reported by RMF24, citing National Prosecutor's Office spokesperson Przemysław Nowak.

According to Nowak, the case is at the stage of preliminary verification activities, meaning before a possible opening of an investigation. The PiS parliamentary club filed a report on a reasonable suspicion that Czarzasty and Berek committed a crime. Błaszczak had previously stated that a crime was allegedly committed during the ceremony in the Sejm.

Oath in the Sejm

On September 4, the Sejm elected Maciej Berek as a judge of the Constitutional Tribunal. On October 14, he took part in a ceremony in the Sejm and took the oath, stating that he was doing so before the president. Polish President Karol Nawrocki was not present at the ceremony.

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After the ceremony, Berek submitted the documents to the President's Chancellery and later arrived at the Constitutional Tribunal. The head of the tribunal, Bogdan Święczkowski, said he would not allow Berek to hear cases until he receives an answer from the president as to whether the latter recognizes the oath as having been taken in his presence.

Position of the President's Chancellery

At the beginning of the week, the Constitutional Tribunal received a letter from the President's Chancellery setting out Karol Nawrocki's position. It stated that an oath taken in the Sejm building in the presence of the Sejm Marshal and the Senate Marshal, but without the president, cannot be considered equivalent to an oath before the head of state.

Constitutional Tribunal spokesperson Weronika Ścibor said that, according to the letter from the President's Chancellery, Berek did not take the oath before the incumbent president and therefore did not acquire the official status of a tribunal judge. Berek himself had previously stated that he took the oath in a legally permissible form that was factually possible.