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New Polish Constitutional Tribunal judge takes oath amid ongoing row

28.07.2026 16:55
Poland's President Karol Nawrocki on Tuesday swore in Sławomir Patyra as a Constitutional Tribunal judge amid an ongoing dispute over appointments.
Newly sworn-in Constitutional Tribunal judge Sławomir Patyra outside the courts headquarters in Warsaw on Tuesday.
Newly sworn-in Constitutional Tribunal judge Sławomir Patyra outside the court's headquarters in Warsaw on Tuesday.Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka

Speaking after the ceremony, Patyra criticised the decision not to invite four other judges elected by parliament to take their oaths.

He said he considered the move negative and "incomprehensible in legal terms," while adding that, as a constitutional court judge, he would not make political assumptions about the matter.

Patyra said the four judges were still waiting to take up their positions.

He described the situation as "very unfortunate" and said the court’s current composition meant it was still unable to deal with pending applications and complaints.

Patyra argued that excluding the four judges from the process of forming judicial panels "casts a shadow of illegality" over decisions the court may issue in the future.

"I am entering the Constitutional Tribunal aware of how difficult and invidious this role is," he said.

Patyra was elected by parliament in June, after the term of Constitutional Tribunal judge Andrzej Zielonacki ended on 28 June.

He is a constitutional law expert associated with Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, where he has headed a department since 2019.

Four judges await office

Poland's parliament elected six judges to the Constitutional Tribunal in March.

President Nawrocki has sworn in two of them, Magdalena Bentkowska and Dariusz Szostek.

The remaining four took their oaths before parliament on April 9 in the president's absence.

However, Święczkowski said they cannot take office because the ceremony did not constitute a valid oath.

The judges filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights, while prosecutors are investigating the circumstances surrounding their exclusion from taking up their posts.

(ał)

Source: tvp.info