Committee for the Defence of Democracy

{{Further|Polish constitutional crisis, 2015}}

KOD was formed in opposition to several actions taken by the governing party after Law and Justice won parliament election. In October 2015, Law and Justice ({{langx|pl|Prawo i Sprawiedliwość}}, PiS) became the first party in post-communist Polish history to control an absolute majority of the seats in the Polish Parliament. They won the presidential elections with a PiS-backed candidate, Andrzej Duda, just a few months earlier.{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-election-idUSKCN0SL1XH20151027|title=Poland's Eurosceptics win outright majority in parliament|date=27 October 2015|newspaper=Reuters|access-date=10 March 2016}} The primary impetus for the formation of KOD was the Parliament's enactment of a law on 26 November 2015 purporting to invalidate the prior Government's appointment of five judges to the Polish Constitutional Court and the nomination of new PiS-affiliated judges to replace them.{{cite web|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/12/16/pola-d16.html|title=Tens of thousands march in Warsaw against constitutional coup - World Socialist Web Site|last=Niemitz|first=Dorota|website=www.wsws.org|date=16 December 2015 |access-date=10 March 2016}} Since then the organisation has opposed and reacted to any actions taken by the government or President Andrzej Duda which were deemed unlawful, undermining democracy, limiting civil liberties or going against European principles.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/25/poland-right-law-justice-party-europe|title=Xenophobic, authoritarian – and generous on welfare: how Poland's right rules|newspaper=The Guardian|date=25 October 2016|language=en-EN|access-date=16 November 2016|last1=Adekoya|first1=Remi}}

File:Committee for the Defence of Democracy logo.tif

On 26 November 2015, the members of KOD wrote an open letter entitled "A Letter of the Citizens of the Constitutional State to Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland" asking him to swear in three of the five judges to the Constitutional Court. KOD argued that those three, although not the other two, were duly elected by the previous parliament.{{cite web|url=http://metrocafe.pl/metrocafe/1,145523,19257132,ostry-list-komitetu-obrony-demokracji-do-prezydenta.html|title=Ostry list Komitetu Obrony Demokracji do Prezydenta!|website=metrocafe.pl|language=pl-PL|access-date=10 March 2016}}

As the disagreements between the governing party and the Constitutional Court continued, KOD called for protests against what it perceives as a breach of the Constitution in violation of democratic norms and the constitutional separation of powers between the legislature, executive branch, and judiciary.

The former leader, Mateusz Kijowski, left the organisation in 2017 after being accused of appropriating 121 thousand złoty.{{Cite web|url=https://dorzeczy.pl/kraj/36993/Kijowski-odszedl-z-KOD-bo-chcieli-go-wyrzucic.html|title=Kijowski odszedł z KOD, bo chcieli go wyrzucić|date=27 July 2017|website=Do Rzeczy|language=pl|access-date=7 May 2019}}

• Demonstration, which was estimated by Der Spiegel and Le Monde to include 50,000 demonstrators, and at between 17,000 and 20,000 people by the police,{{cite web|url=http://wiadomosci.radiozet.pl/Wiadomosci/Kraj/Poicja-Na-warszawskiej-manifestacji-KOD-17-20-tys.-osob-00015865|title=Policja: Na warszawskiej manifestacji KOD 17-20 tys. osób|author=Redakcja Radia ZET|work=Policja: Na warszawskiej manifestacji KOD 17-20 tys. osób - Wiadomości|date=19 November 2007|access-date=16 March 2016|archive-date=28 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828161020/http://wiadomosci.radiozet.pl/Wiadomosci/Kraj/Poicja-Na-warszawskiej-manifestacji-KOD-17-20-tys.-osob-00015865|url-status=dead}} took place in front of the headquarters of the Constitutional Court in Warsaw on 12 December 2015. Parallel demonstrations were also held in other major Polish cities, including: Poznań (over 2,000 people), Szczecin (over 2,000 people), Wrocław (approx. 2,000 people), Lublin (500), and Bielsko-Biała (200).
• On 13 December 2015, over 3,000 people demonstrated in Gdańsk.{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}.
• On 9 January 2016, there were demonstrations on the "Free Media" in 20 cities in Poland.{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}
• On 23 January 2016, 40 cities and towns in Poland saw protests about "Defense of Your freedom".{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}
• A demonstration with 70,000 people was held in Warsaw on 27 February; it was called "We, the People".{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}
• A demonstration under the theme "We are and will remain in Europe" took place on 7 May in Warsaw and was estimated to gather up to 240,000 people by City Hall.{{cn|date=July 2021}}

Most of the protests in Poland are accompanied by smaller protests by KOD cells in most European capitals and around the world, notably in Brussels, London, Paris, Berlin and the USA.{{cite web|url=http://londynek.net/wiadomosci/article?jdnews_id=34194|title=Polonia manifestowała na całym świecie. Protesty KOD w UK, Francji, USA, Australii, Niemczech|website=Londynek.net|date=24 January 2016 |language=pl-PL|access-date=16 November 2016}}

In December 2019, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Committee for the Defence of Democracy organized protests throughout Poland against the Polish judicial disciplinary panel law.[https://www.euronews.com/2019/12/18/poland-could-be-forced-to-leave-eu-by-its-judicial-reforms-top-court-says] Poland could be forced to leave EU by its judicial reforms, top court says, EU Observer

The original leader was Mateusz Kijowski (2015-2017).

In September 2020, {{ill|Jakub Karyś|pl}} was re-elected as the head of KOD.

{{Portal|Poland|Politics}}

• 2015–present Polish constitutional crisis
• Citizens of Poland
• Liberalism in Poland

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite journal|date= 26 November 2015|title= Sejm anulował wybór sędziów Trybunału Konstytucyjnego|url= http://polska.newsweek.pl/prawo-i-sprawiedliwosc-a-trybunal-konstytucyjny-nowoczesna,artykuly,374676,1.html|journal= Newsweek Polska|language= pl|access-date= 15 December 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151213030255/http://polska.newsweek.pl/prawo-i-sprawiedliwosc-a-trybunal-konstytucyjny-nowoczesna,artykuly,374676,1.html|archive-date= 13 December 2015|url-status= dead}}

{{cite news |date=12 December 2015|title= 50 000 manifestants à Varsovie pour " défendre la démocratie "|url= http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2015/12/12/50-000-manifestants-a-varsovie-pour-defendre-la-democratie_4830627_3214.html|journal= Le Monde|language=fr|access-date= 15 December 2015}}

{{cite journal |date= 12 December 2015|title=Zehntausende demonstrieren gegen Präsident Duda|url= https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/polen-demonstration-gegen-praesident-duda-a-1067511.html |journal= Der Spiegel |language=de|access-date=22 December 2015}}

{{cite news | language =pl | title= KOD wybrał nowego przewodniczącego |trans-title = KOD chose a new leader | date= 2020-09-27 |newspaper= Polsat | url= https://www.polsatnews.pl/wiadomosc/2020-09-27/kod-wybral-nowego-przewodniczacego |accessdate=2020-11-04 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20201104230804/https://www.polsatnews.pl/wiadomosc/2020-09-27/kod-wybral-nowego-przewodniczacego/ |archive-date= 2020-11-04 |url-status=live }}

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{{Commons category|Committee for the Defence of Democracy}}

• {{URL|http://www.kod.ngo|Official international website}}
• {{URL|http://www.ruchkod.pl|Official Polish website}}
• {{URL|http://sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htm|English version of the Polish Constitution}}

{{Polish rule-of-law crisis}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:2015 establishments in Poland

Category:Democracy movements

Category:Organizations established in 2015

Category:Politics of Poland

Category:Political opposition organizations

Category:Political organisations based in Poland

Category:Protests in Poland

Category:Recipients of the European Citizen's Prize

Category:Polish constitutional crisis