POLAND’S constitutional tribunal ruled yesterday that legislation regulating the court’s functions imposed by the governing right-wing Law and Justice party was unconstitutional.

In a leaked draft of the report, the commission said that changes to the court threaten the rule of law, democracy and human rights in Poland.

Prime Minister Beata Szydlo hit back, declaring that her government would ignore the ruling.

The government has also vowed to dismiss a separate judgement, expected yesterday, by the Council of Europe’s Venice commission.

Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has insisted that Poland is a sovereign nation that will decide its own affairs.

But opposition MP Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz warned that disregarding the rulings would lead to the biggest constitutional crisis in Poland since the end of communist rule in 1989.

Committee for the Defence of Democracy spokeswoman Hanna Szulczewska said: “I am afraid Poland is really stuck. There seems to be no way out now.”