Tu-154 wreckage with Polish delegation on board Photo by PAP/EPA/Sergey Chirikov
The Polish Prosecutor’s Office, which is investigating the circumstances of the Smolensk plane crash, intends to apply to the court for the arrest of 43 Russian forensic experts. They are accused of providing false testimony in forensic medical reports after the autopsy of the victims of the tragedy. This was reported by the Polish Press Agency (PAP) with reference to the head of the investigation team of the National Prosecutor’s Office of Poland Krzysztof Schwartz.
According to Schwartz, the investigation found that the forensic medical reports prepared by Russian experts contained numerous false information. The reports lacked descriptions of the victims’ identifying features, incorrectly documented injuries and even contained descriptions of organs that the victims did not have.
“We have undoubtedly found that the documents were prepared with numerous errors, and some of them were even created using the copy-paste function. It is possible that this was done out of negligence, but it is also possible that it was done deliberately,” the Polish prosecutor said.
He also added that Russia had refused to provide Poland with legal assistance in the case. In this regard, the Polish prosecutor’s office will submit a request to the court for the arrest of the defendants, which will allow them to be put on the international wanted list.
Smolensk disaster: key facts
On 10 April 2010, a Polish government plane with 96 people on board crashed near the Smolensk-Severny military airfield. Among the dead were President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, the country’s military leadership and political elite. The delegation was on its way to commemorate the victims of the Katyn massacre.
In 2011, a Polish government commission and the Interstate Aviation Committee in Moscow blamed the crash on crew errors. At the same time, there were versions in Poland about the possible responsibility of Russian controllers. After the Law and Justice (PiS) party came to power in 2015, the investigation was resumed, the bodies were exhumed and the wreckage was further analysed.
The new Polish government, formed by the Civic Coalition, restored the legitimacy of the 2011 report and launched an investigation into possible abuses during the previous government’s re-investigation.
The Smolensk disaster case is still a sensitive topic in Polish society, and its investigation continues to affect relations between Poland and Russia.
