The Association of Lawyers for Poland expresses its utmost outrage at the brutal and unprecedented raid on the Dominican Monastery of St. Stanislaus in Lublin, carried out on December 19, 2024, by order of the National Prosecutor’s Office.
The entry of six masked police officers armed with pistols, cameras, and drones painted a scene more reminiscent of a totalitarian regime than the civilized Republic of Poland. Monastic cells were desecrated, interiors photographed, and the oppressive spectacle of circling drones lent the entire operation an almost grotesquely repressive character.
According to official documents, the shameful purpose of this operation was the alleged harboring of MP Marcin Romanowski, who was wanted under an arrest warrant. Yet, any reasonable person would ask: on what grounds? A search, as outlined in criminal procedure (Article 219 of the Criminal Procedure Code), requires justified suspicion of the individual’s presence in a given location. Meanwhile, as of December 19, pro-government media openly reported that Romanowski was abroad—in Spain or Hungary. What unfolded was not a lawful action but a farce.
This disgrace was not confined to domestic law. The authorities, wielding the machinery of the state like a merciless battering ram, violated Article 8(3) of the Concordat between the Holy See and the Republic of Poland. This agreement unequivocally guarantees the inviolability of places of worship, permitting any action within them only with ecclesiastical consent or in extraordinary circumstances threatening life, health, or property. Whose life, health, or property was endangered in this farcical operation? None of these prerequisites were met.
The raid was conducted under the aegis of the National Prosecutor’s Office, which has been overtaken by politician Adam Bodnar and his puppet prosecutors since January 2024. Rather than safeguarding the rule of law, they have plunged the institution into chaos and anarchy. Supreme Court rulings (Resolution I KZP 3/24) and Constitutional Tribunal judgments (Ruling SK 13/24) highlight the devastating violations in its functioning.
Let us not deceive ourselves—this operation had nothing to do with justice or legality. Its true purpose was to humiliate the clergy and escalate the political war against the Catholic Church. For years, the government has obsessively sought to “trim” Catholic influence in Poland, and now it has gone a step further with this symbolic assault on one of the bastions of spirituality.
The Association of Lawyers for Poland unequivocally condemns this disgraceful act and calls on the government to come to its senses. Every further instance of lawlessness distances us from the ranks of civilized nations and pushes Poland closer to the abyss of authoritarianism. We demand the immediate punishment of those responsible and the restoration of respect for the rule of law and ethical norms in state actions.
https://x.com/PRAWNICYdlaPOL/status/1871596149531881793
