A ban on assemblies during the pandemic was introduced without proper legal basis, Poland’s Supreme Court has found. The decision is the latest in a series of rulings that have deemed government coronavirus restrictions to be unlawful.
In a case brought by Poland’s commissioner for human rights, Adam Bodnar, a panel of three Supreme Court judges overturned fines issued to two men for participating in a protest last year against the introduction of a near-total ban on abortion.
“The prohibition [on assemblies] was introduced without proper legal basis – by way of a [government] decree instead of legislation,” noted the judges in their justification, quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
The government had issued its decree on the basis of legislation on the prevention and combating of infections. “But this law does not provide grounds for such restrictions on freedom,” found the court. It only allows the banning of gatherings such as organised entertainment performances, not spontaneous ones.
The prohibition was therefore in violation of Articles 31 and 57 of Poland’s constitution, which guarantee freedoms – including of assembly – unless they are limited by statute for a valid reason.
The case in question relates to two men who were fined for participating in a protest last October outside the offices of an MP from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party in the town of Tarnowskie Góry. The event was part of mass nationwide protests in the wake of a constitutional court ruling that ended almost all legal abortion in Poland.
In May this year, Bodnar submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court for the fines to be overturned, arguing that “the men were punished on the basis of defective provisions” of the law.
In a similar case earlier this year, also brought by Bodnar, the Supreme Court ruled that lockdown measures restricting freedom of movement introduced by government decree last March violated the law. Fines issued as a result were thereby overturned.
A number of business owners have also successfully challenged fines issued against them for operating in violation of the government-ordered lockdown, which a number of courts have found was introduced unlawfully and in violation of the constitution.
Main image credit: Grzegorz Celejewski / Agencja Gazeta
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.
