Grounds for penalising hate speech Kp 3/25
Ref. No. Kp 3/25
JUDGMENT
IN THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
Warsaw, 30 September 2025
The Constitutional Tribunal, composed of:
Bogdan Święczkowski – Presiding Judge
Krystyna Pawłowicz
Stanisław Piotrowicz
Justyn Piskorski – Judge Rapporteur,
Bartłomiej Sochański
Jakub Stelina
Wojciech Sych
Michał Warciński
Rafał Wojciechowski
Jarosław Wyrembak
Andrzej Zielonacki,
Recording Clerk – Agnieszka Krawczyk,
having considered – in the presence of the applicant, at the hearings held on 8 July and 30 September 2025 – the application lodged on the basis of Article 122(3) of the Polish Constitution by the President of the Republic of Poland, for the Constitutional Tribunal to consider the conformity of:
the Bill of 6 March 2025 adopted by the Polish Parliament to amend the Criminal Code, insofar as:
(a) it adds new discrimination grounds to Article 53(2a)(6), Article 119(1), Article 256(1) and Article 257 of the Criminal Code of 6 June 1997 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2024, item 17, as amended), namely: age, gender, and/or sexual orientation, with Article 2, Article 42(1) in conjunction with Article 54(1) of the Constitution;
(b) it adds new discrimination grounds to Article 53(2a)(6), Article 119(1), Article 256(1) and Article 257 of the Code referred to in point (a), namely: disability, age, gender, and/or sexual orientation, with Article 31(3) in conjunction with Article 54(1) of the Constitution;
(c) it eliminates the Polish pronoun referring to the aggrieved party in Article 53(2a)(6), Article 119(1) and Article 257 of the Code referred to in point (a), with Article 31(3) in conjunction with Article 54(1) of the Constitution,
adjudicates as follows:
I
1. Article 1 of the Bill of 6 March 2025 adopted by the Parliament to amend the Criminal Code of 6 June 1997 – insofar as it adds new grounds to Article 53(2a)(6), Article 119(1), Article 256(1) and Article 257 of the Criminal Code (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2024, item 17, as amended), namely: disability, age, gender, and/or sexual orientation – is inconsistent with Article 54(1) in conjunction with Article 42(1) in conjunction with Article 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.
2. Article 1(1), (2) and (4) of the Bill of 6 March 2025 adopted by the Parliament to amend the Criminal Code of 6 June 1997 – insofar as the challenged provisions eliminate the Polish pronoun referring to the aggrieved partyto the aggrieved party in Article 53(2a)(6), Article 119(1) and Article 257 of the Criminal Code – are inconsistent with Article 54(1) in conjunction with Article 31(3) of the Constitution.
II
The provisions indicated in part I are inextricably linked with the aforementioned Bill as a whole.
Moreover, the Tribunal decides:
to discontinue the proceedings as to the remainder.
The ruling was unanimous.
Bogdan Święczkowski
Krystyna Pawłowicz
Stanisław Piotrowicz
Justyn Piskorski
Bartłomiej Sochański
Jakub Stelina
Wojciech Sych
Michał Warciński
Rafał Wojciechowski
Jarosław Wyrembak
Andrzej Zielonacki