Poland Opens New Probe Into Plane Crash That Killed President
05 February 2016 - 7:00PM
Dow Jones News
WARSAW—Poland's three-month-old government ordered a new
investigation into the 2010 airplane crash in Russia that killed
the country's president and 95 others, reviving a dispute that has
strained relations with Russia and widened divisions at home.
The cabinet of the Law and Justice party, which won
parliamentary elections in October, commissioned a report, to be
prepared by 21 people appointed by the government.
Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said on Thursday that the
Russian-made Tu-154 government jet carrying President Lech
Kaczynski may have disintegrated midair on its approach to the
Smolensk airport in western Russia. Mr. Macierewicz and others in
the Law and Justice party have maintained that explosions were the
only possibility that fully explained the crash.
According to official findings by a government-appointed
committee in 2011, the plane descended too low in thick fog and
crashed after hitting trees.
President Kaczynski and his delegation were on their way to a
World War II commemoration of a Stalin-era massacre by the Soviet
Union's secret police of more than 20,000 Polish prisoners of war
in the woods near Katyn.
The previous centrist government of the Civic Platform party has
called Mr. Macierewicz's allegations conspiracy theories. It
supported the official Polish report, which largely agreed with
findings of an earlier Moscow-based committee that Polish pilot
error was mainly to blame, other than to partly blame Russian air
traffic controllers.
The Law and Justice party's leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, lost his
twin brother, President Kaczynski, in the crash. The president's
wife, as well as scores of other officials—the central bank chief,
top army commanders and legislators—were among the victims.
Mr. Kaczynski has referred to the victims as "fallen" and—to
quote a Polish poet—"betrayed at dawn."
The Law and Justice party has maintained that political
divisions were partly to blame. It said the previous government had
tried to interfere with President Kaczynski's visit to Katyn. Some
in the party have talked of an assassination plot without offering
any evidence.
President Kaczynski was beginning his re-election campaign at
the time of the crash. His brother then ran in his stead, but
lost.
Despite initial appearances that Poland and Russia could
overcome their differences, tensions between the historic foes
increased in the aftermath of the crash. Russia has repeatedly
refused to hand over the plane's wreckage to Poland until it has
concluded its own criminal probe. A Russian foreign ministry
spokeswoman said on Thursday the case had been fully clarified.
Meanwhile, Russia's annexation of Crimea further strained the
relationship, with Poland leading Western criticism of Russia's
support of separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
Mr. Macierewicz on Thursday criticized the government of former
Prime Minister Donald Tusk, now serving as president of the
European Council, over its handling of the aftermath of the crash,
including allowing a Moscow-based aviation committee to conduct the
original investigation.
Mr. Tusk has insisted his government did its utmost to help the
victims' families and ensure the continuity of key Polish
institutions.
A court in Poland recently decided to continue a case brought by
several relatives of some of the victims against Mr. Tusk's
aides.
Write to Martin M. Sobczyk at martin.sobczyk@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 05, 2016 02:45 ET (07:45 GMT)
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