Polish court upholds verdict over Smolensk trip
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
12.04.2017 15:35
A court of appeal in Warsaw on Wednesday upheld a conviction for a former senior security officer accused of neglecting his duties over a 2010 trip to Russia by President Lech Kaczyński which ended in disaster.
Appeal court announces its verdict on Wednesday. PAP/Tomasz Gzell
A Polish plane carrying then-President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and 94 others crashed on 10 April, 2010, in Smolensk, western Russia, killing everyone on board, including dozens of senior officials and military commanders.
The Warsaw appeal court decided to uphold a suspended sentence of one-and-a-half years in prison imposed by a lower court on Gen. Paweł Bielawny, former deputy chief of the Government Protection Bureau (BOR).
Bielawny was accused of neglecting his duties, which, according to prosecutors, "resulted in a significant reduction in the security of the people being protected.”
Bielawny’s lawyers had wanted him to be acquitted.
Wednesday’s ruling was the first time a criminal court pronounced a final verdict in a case connected with the Smolensk disaster.
(pk)
Source: PAP