The court found that her detention constituted a breach of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to liberty and personal security.
In a judgment issued on 31 July in Strasbourg, France, the court ordered the Polish government to pay Siedlecka €3,000 in damages.
PiS-era policing under fire
Siedlecka, a legal columnist currently writing for the liberal weekly Polityka, had joined a peaceful counter-demonstration in Warsaw on 10 June 2017.
The protest aimed to block a monthly nationalist march organised by supporters of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, which governed Poland at the time. These so-called “Smolensk marches” commemorated the 2010 plane crash that killed then-President Lech Kaczyński and other senior officials.
Police forcibly removed demonstrators, including Siedlecka, who was carried out and held in the courtyard of a nearby building for over two hours.
Officers told her she was not being arrested but merely undergoing an “identity check” to determine whether she was wanted by authorities - a justification frequently used under the PiS government during protests. She was denied access to legal counsel and refused to accept a fine of 500 PLN (approximately €117).
Routine harassment under PiS
The court strongly criticised the use of prolonged identity verification, concluding that it amounted to unlawful detention and was incompatible with the protections guaranteed by the Convention.
Under the PiS administration, such practices were commonly used to suppress opposition voices and discourage public dissent.
Human rights groups and Polish civil society organisations had repeatedly documented a pattern of police intimidation at anti-government demonstrations.
Protesters were often held without charge, denied access to lawyers, or fined under unclear legal grounds - all under the pretext of ID checks.
The Strasbourg court ruled that this practice was not only disproportionate, but also lacked a clear legal basis under Polish law, making it both unconstitutional and in breach of international human rights standards.
Strasbourg ruling prompts calls for stronger civil liberties protections in Poland
Speaking to TVN24 after the ruling, Siedlecka said she was “very pleased” the court recognised her detention as a violation of personal liberty. She emphasised that the most significant part of the judgment was the finding that extended identity checks amount to unlawful detention.
“This kind of identity verification is not provided for under Polish law. It is neither proportionate nor adequate. It fails to meet the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights or our constitution,” she said.
Siedlecka added that the June 2017 incident was not an isolated case and expressed hope that Poland’s current justice minister, Waldemar Żurek, would respond to the ruling by initiating legal reforms.
“This judgment requires the Polish state to prevent such abuses and ensure that extended ID checks can no longer be used as a tool to intimidate or harass people exercising their democratic rights,” she told TVN24.
(mp)
Source: IAR/PAP/Oko Press/TVN24
X/@hfhrpl/@oko_press/@tvn24/@ObywateleRP