Smolensk committee to notify prosecution of late president's alleged assassination

The head of a government panel reinvestigating the fatal crash of a Polish presidential plane in 2010 has said he will ask the public prosecutor’s office to investigate the disaster as a possible assassination attempt on President Lech Kaczyński.

Poland's President Andrzej Duda and First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda laid flowers at a plaque commemorating late President Lech Kaczyński, after attending evening mass at the Arch-cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Warsaw on Sunday, April 16.

Photo: PAP/Marcin Obara

Antoni Macierewicz, head of the Smolensk investigative committee, told Polish Radio the panel will notify the prosecutor's office about its suspicion that President Lech Kaczyński's death and the loss of 95 other individuals who travelled with him to Smolensk on April 10, 2010, were the result of a planned assassination.

His words came on Sunday, the day Polish officials officially marked the 13^th anniversary of the disaster.

The new commission to reinvestigate the crash was set up by the ruling Law and Justice party, which came to power in 2015.

The party's head, Jarosław Kaczyński, is the twin brother of the late President Lech Kaczyński.

The Smolensk disaster

The plane crash near the western Russian city of Smolensk on April 10, 2010, killed Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife and dozens of top officials. It is still a source of controversy and recriminations.

The ruling conservatives have long challenged an official report into the crash issued by the previous Polish government which cited a catalogue of errors on the Polish side, while also pointing to errors made by Russian staff at the control tower of Smolensk Military Airport.

Last year, the panel led by Macierewicz unveiled its findings in a 338-page report that claimed the disaster 12 years ago was caused by "at least two blasts" and by "political factors."

A Russian report placed all the blame on the Poles.

Source: IAR

(ał)