The judgment of the Polish Constitutional Court on Wednesday does not mean that Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights no longer applies to Polish citizens. Like all Europeans, you can go on to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) if you have a reasonable view that you have not received a fair trial in your home country. But the Polish constitutional judges have made the implementation of the judgments of the Strasbourg court in Poland subject to a reservation. As a result, your verdict means that Poland no longer has to accept judgments of the ECHR that have already been heard in Poland before the Constitutional Court.
This contradicts the commitments that Poland has made through its membership in the Council of Europe.
It is gloomy symbolism that this judgment was passed in Warsaw exactly two days before the 30th anniversary of Poland's accession to the Council of Europe.
Actually, that could have been an occasion to remind in nice speeches of an important step on Poland's path from the communist dictatorship to democracy and the rule of law.
So this date becomes a reminder of how fragile these achievements can be.
There is another state that has placed the validity of ECHR judgments under a similar reservation.
Poland certainly does not want to be on a par with him - it is Putin's Russia.