The Polish Constitutional Tribunal will hold a hearing to discuss the country’s ban on ritual slaughter.
The hearing will be held Dec. 3. A request for a review of the case by the Constitutional Tribunal was submitted more than a year ago by the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland.
“The procedure lasted a long time, but I think it was the right way,” Piotr Kadlcik, president of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, said. “We hope that the tribunal will rule on the admissibility of Jewish ritual slaughter on Polish territory. This will eliminate confusion as to the legality or illegality of this kind of slaughter. It also will eliminate rumors that the slaughter is done somewhere illegally. We want it to be done according to religious principles and practices of openness and transparency.”
Ritual slaughter was banned in Poland beginning on Jan. 1, 2013, after Poland’s constitutional court scrapped a government regulation exempting Jews and Muslims from a law requiring the stunning of animals before slaughter. Muslim and Jewish ritual slaughter requires that animals be conscious before their necks are cut. — jta