REDEMPTION OF THE INVESTIGATION BEFORE ELECTIONS
CZESŁAW RYSZKA
On 5 November the District Prosecution in Warsaw remitted the investigation concerning the civil organization of flights of the president and the prime minister to Smoleńsk in 2010
Last year it was written hopefully that a day was coming on which the Polish justice administration would regain its good name, procurators would deal with facts, not politics. It was written so, when in 2013 the procurators received back the investigation concerning misconducts done by officials responsible for organizing flights to Smoleńsk on 7 and 10 April 2010. Investigators decided that the governmental party had been doing everything from the beginning of preparations for the visits in Russia, in order to eliminate the late president Lech Kaczyński from them. Today it is known that these were the Russians who demanded that the President of the Polish Republic should fly to Smoleńsk separately, and the prime minister Tusk agreed to it. According to the Procurators, functionaries of the Government Protection Office did not apply for permission for the so-called reconnaissance at the airport in Smoleńsk. The evidence material also questions identical security of landing of the prime minister and the president provided by the Government Protection Office: according to some testimonies, on 7 April functionaries were waiting for the prime minister at the airport, on 10 April – they were not there. Investigators stated among the others that the visit of president Lech Kaczyński in Smoleńsk had an official character, in relation to it, according to provisions, it was necessary to give it the status HEAD. However, it was not done. Therefore, despite the fact that the Government Protection Office addressed an order to the Russian Federation for an armed car which was to be used for transportation of president from Smoleńsk to Katyń, the Foreign Ministry changed this note and applied to Moscow for an ordinary car. The Government Protection Office also demanded snipers to be on the mentioned road of passing, whereas the Foreign Ministry run by Radosław Sikorski sent a letter about securiing the road only by observers. Moreover, during the visit of the prime minister, on 7 April, he was accompanied by 4 airplanes: Tu-154M, Jak-40 and 2 military Casy planes. On 10 April only 2 airplanes were flying: Tu-154M with the president of the Polish Republic and Jak-40 with journalists. There were more such actions at the disadvantage of the President, therefore, Procurators were to decide who had made that decision, and even more: hadn’t it been made in agreement with Russia. Whereas on 5 November 2014, the District Prosecution Warszawa-Praga remitted the investigation concerning the civil organization of flights of the president and the prime minister to Smoleńsk in 2010. The same prosecution has remitted the investigation twice before – on 20 June 2012 and 20 September 2013, but the court decided about its further proceeding. Commenting on the remitting the investigation for the third time, the spokesman of the Warszawa-Praga district explained that despite many unjust moves from state institutions, the prosecution did not perceive any signs of crime in them. It means that there were abnormalities, but there is not anyone responsible for it. The quick decision of the prosecution is surprising. After all, a new extraordinary thread appeared. In the light of the war in Ukraine conducted by Russia, it is necessary to analyze the words of the former chief of the Foreign Ministry, the current marshal of the Seym Radosław Sikorski, which Władimir Putin addressed to Donald Tusk – about the common partition of Ukraine with Russia. Even if these words were said jokingly, they prove a politically naïve cooperation of the Polish government with Russia. Or maybe they mean something more. Surely, these political good terms had an influence on the way of conducting preparations for the visit in Katyń in 2010, and also explains giving the investigation of Smoleńsk into the hands of Russia and indirectly a consent to a game which Russia has been conducting with us in this issue till now. Shouldn’t we consider this new thread out of the investigation as a serious mistake of the prosecution? Doesn’t it point to the fact that in the investigation of Smoleńsk we deal with political decisions?
The third attempt of remitting the investigation of Smoleńsk is legitimate. Although materials concerning misconduct in the work of the Government Protection Office were included into a separate proceeding, the current decision of the prosecution opens a way to file a private indictment towards the people whose acts have signs of the crime to the disadvantage of the late President of the Polish Republic, other passengers of Tu-154M and the Polish country.
AA
„Niedziela” 46/2014