Court acquits restaurant for operating during Poland’s “unconstitutional” lockdown

A court has rejected a case against two restaurant owners for operating in violation of lockdown rules, finding that the restrictions were “unconstitutional”. It is the latest in a series of legal victories by businesses who have argued that the government introduced restrictions unlawfully.

In January this year, Bułkęs, a burger joint, became the first restaurant in Katowice – a city of 300,000 in southern Poland – to reopen despite rules, in place since October, requiring all such establishments to be closed.

The owners – Beata Bieniek-Wiera and Dominika Bielecka – argued that they risked bankruptcy unless they resumed operating, claiming that they were “getting nothing” from the government’s support package for businesses during the pandemic, reported Nasze Miasto.

Like many other eateries that began operating at that time, Bułkęs made clients sign a contract upon arrival saying that they were visiting the restaurant as “taste testers”, which was seen as a form of legal protection.

Large crowds turned up on the opening weekend – but so did police and sanitary authorities, who, after an inspection, reported the owners to court for violating restrictions.

This week, however, Bieniek-Wiera and Bielecka announced that a court in Katowice had thrown out all 23 charges against them.

“The court deemed that starting the trial and taking evidence would be pointless because…it fully agreed with [our] argument that the ban on conducting business activity introduced by [government] regulation is against the constitution,” they wrote.

“In the oral justification, we heard that Covid regulations were introduced into the legal order in a manner contrary to the fundamental constitutional principles of the rule,” they continued, adding that the court had referred to the “legislative chaos” surrounding restrictions.

Last spring, Poland’s government introduced one of Europe’s earliest and toughest lockdowns, which helped to keep infections low. From the start, however, many legal experts argued that the manner in which the restrictions had been introduced was unconstitutional and could easily be challenged in court.

During the autumn and winter, when a second wave of the virus hit Poland and another lockdown was put in place, a number of businesses began opening in defiance of restrictions, arguing that they were unlawful.

Their argument was bolstered by a number of court judgements in which businesses successfully challenged punishments given to them for violating restrictions. Hundreds have sued the state for compensation.

In March this year, the Supreme Court also ruled that lockdown measures restricting freedom of movement introduced by government decree in March last year “violated the law”.

Main image credit: Bułkęs/Facebook

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.