Poland said Wednesday that it will not send representatives to a meeting of an international human rights body that is examining a controversial legislative change in the central European country, accusing the group of bias. The Venice Commission, a body of legal experts within the Council of Europe, Europe's top human rights watchdog, is scheduled to meet on Friday and Saturday. Commissioners are expected to weigh in on new Polish legislation that changes the functioning of the Constitutional Tribunal, the country's top legislative court. Council of Europe spokesman Panos Kakaviatos told the AP that "such a boycott is unusual for an opinion of this importance." Poland's Foreign Ministry insisted that the decision to forego the meeting was "not a boycott."

Source: ABC News October 12, 2016 13:36 UTC