And justice for whom?

Late last Friday, the Constitutional Tribunal delivered its verdict on the Vetting Act, finding that a number of elements of the Act were unconstitutional. Under the Act, introduced in October 2006 and amended in February of this year, people whose professions were deemed of particular importance - such as high-ranking academics, journalists, heads of publishing houses and presidents of bourse-listed companies - were required to submit a declaration concerning their involvement in cooperation with communist secret police (SB) between 1944-1990.

The Vetting Act was heatedly debated in the Tribunal, and the verdict was not unanimous. Elements of the Act found to be unconstitutional included the vetting of directors and professors of private schools, journalists and heads of bourse-listed companies. The publication of the Institute of National Remembrance's (IPN) catalogue of SB agents was also deemed unconstitutional.

Several days before the verdict was reached, however, President Lech Kaczyński announced repeatedly that even if the Act were found to be illegal, the catalogue of SB agents would be published anyway.

On Thursday before the verdict, a Sejm deputy, Arkadiusz Mularczyk, asked for a postponement of deliberations and accused two of the Tribunal's judges of cooperation with the SB. Although the President of the Tribunal, Jerzy Stępień, removed them from the Tribunal, he did not agree to a postponement.

Despite Friday's highly dramatic decision, the verdict is not likely to mark the end of the story.