On Thursday, July 20, the Polish parliament passed a package of bills in an attempt to gain control over the country’s judiciary. The timing was perfect: at the peak of the holiday period, the government expected a smooth vote and little public reaction.

During the hours of live broadcast from the parliament, there was a growing sense of being immersed in a historical reconstruction similar to the 1920s, when an increasingly autocratic regime pushed a similar law. A century later, in an EU state, a ruling party was trying to convince the Polish people that crushing insubordinate justices was the democratic right of elected governments.

The parliament voted on the bill; the ruling party suppressed dissent in the room and proceeded with the rest of the agenda for the day. Later on that memorable night, Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, lost control, accusing the opposition of murdering his late brother, Lech Kaczyński, who died in a plane crash in Smolensk.