Placement in a psychiatric facility on the basis of a court decision that is not final P 1/21
Ref. No. P 1/21
JUDGMENT
IN THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
Warsaw, 4 February 2026
The Constitutional Tribunal, composed of:
Wojciech Sych – Presiding Judge
Jakub Stelina – Judge Rapporteur
Rafał Wojciechowski
Jarosław Wyrembak
Andrzej Zielonacki,
having considered, at a sitting in camera on 4 February 2026 – in accordance with Article 92(1)(1) of the Act of 30 November 2016 on the Organisation of the Constitutional Tribunal and the Mode of Proceedings Before the Constitutional Tribunal (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2019, item 2393) – the following question of law referred by the Disciplinary Court at the Court of Appeal in Szczecin as to:
1) whether Article 9(1) of the Executive Criminal Code of 6 June 1997 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2020, item 523, as amended) and Article 462(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code of 6 June 1997 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2020, item 30, as amended)– “insofar as they comprise the legal norm providing that a court decision discontinuing proceedings and ordering the placement of the suspect in an appropriate psychiatric facility must be enforced forthwith after the decision becomes enforceable, i.e. as of the moment of the issuance thereof, even if the decision has been appealed and, at the same time, the court that issued the decision, or the competent court to consider the appeal, does not suspend the enforcement of the said decision” – are consistent with Article 2 in conjunction with Article 41(1), Article 42(2) and (3), Article 45, Article 78 and Article 31(3) of the Constitution,
2) whether Article 9(1) of the Executive Criminal Code of 6 June 1997 – insofar as it comprises the legal norm providing that a ruling on the discontinuation of proceedings and the suspect’s stay in a psychiatric facility, issued in the form of a court decision, must be enforced forthwith after the ruling becomes enforceable, i.e. as of the moment of the issuance thereof” – is consistent with Article 32(1) of the Constitution,
adjudicates as follows:
Article 462(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code of 6 June 1997 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2025, item 46, as amended) in conjunction with Article 9(1) of the Executive Criminal Code of 6 June 1997 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2020, item 523, as amended) – insofar as they provide that a court decision in which (having admitted the public prosector’s application lodged under Article 324(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code) the court discontinues the criminal proceedings and orders a stay in a psychiatric facility, as a precautionary measure for the perpetrator who has committed a criminal offence in a state of insanity, may not be prevented from being enforced by the filing of an appeal against the said decision – are inconsistent with Article 78 in conjunction with Article 41(1), Article 42(2) and (3), Article 45(1), Article 31(3) as well as Article 32(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.
Moreover, the Tribunal decides:
to discontinue the proceedings as to the remainder.
The ruling was adopted by a majority vote.
Wojciech Sych (dissenting opinion)
Jakub Stelina
Rafał Wojciechowski
Jarosław Wyrembak
Andrzej Zielonacki