Poland charges 43 Russians in Smolensk tragedy case
1 April 15:28
Polish prosecutors have charged 43 Russian experts who were involved in the autopsy of the victims of the Smolensk disaster, a 2010 plane crash that killed Poland’s political leadership.
This was reported by the Polish TV channel TVN 24, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
The prosecutor’s office intends to file a motion for the search of more than 40 Russian forensic experts who prepared conclusions after the autopsy of the victims of the Smolensk disaster, said prosecutor Krzysztof Schwartz, who is the head of the investigation team investigating the disaster.
According to the prosecutor, 43 Russian experts conducted 61 autopsies on the victims of the plane crash. Their conclusions contained a large amount of false information.
“The investigation into the perjury of Russian geneticists and forensic experts is one of several important so-called Smolensk proceedings. We have established that the forensic medical reports on the autopsies of the victims of the disaster prepared by Russian doctors contained a lot of false information,” said Prosecutor Schwartz.
Despite the Polish prosecutor’s request for legal assistance in this case, the Russians said they would not cooperate.
“I think that we will apply to the court for a search warrant, which is necessary to launch an international search. We cannot leave this case in such uncertainty,” added Prosecutor Schwartz.
The crash near Smolensk
on April 10, 2010, a Tu-154 plane carrying a Polish delegation flying to mourning events dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Katyn tragedy, a mass execution of Polish citizens by the NKVD, crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk.
The plane crash killed 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and high-ranking Polish politicians.
In 2018, a subcommittee in Poland investigating the Smolensk disaster reported that the left wing of the Tu-154M plane was destroyed by an internal explosion.
Earlier, Poland accused Russian air traffic controllers of the Tu-154 crash near Smolensk.
