Two previously convicted persons, including former head of the Prime Minister's Office Tomasz Arabski, were acquitted for dereliction of duty when organizing a flight to Smolensk in 2010. The acquittal of the third official remained unchanged, said Ewa Leszczynska-Furtak, spokeswoman for criminal cases at the Court of Appeal in Warsaw.
In June 2019, the Warsaw District Court found Tomasz Arabski guilty of failing to fulfill his obligations in organizing a flight to Smolensk. Judge Hubert Gasior justified the sentence and noted that not only the convicts, but also the state institutions, including the president's office and the army, are guilty of this. Information about the acquittal of Arabski and two other officials was first reported by RMF24 on Monday. Leszczynska-Furtak confirmed that two previously convicted people, including Arabski, were acquitted, while the acquittal remained for the third person. In the case of the other two officials, the acquittals were previously final.
One of the main arguments of the defense was the lack of authorized prosecutors to organize the flight discussed in this trial. According to defense attorneys, the actions of the convicts were not directly related to the Smolensk disaster – the indirect link was the 36th special regiment, whose pilots were sitting in the control of the plane. Therefore, according to the lawyers, relatives of the victims were not legal accusers in this trial.
Forum Tomas Arabski
Arabski's defense attorney, attorney Katarzyna Gaivnicek-Prushinska, said on Monday that one of the reasons for not declaring innocence was the appeal from the competent prosecutor within the provisions of the Criminal Code. Secondly, the court determined that Arabski cannot be held criminally responsible. In the context of these claims, he pointed to the responsibility of other people, including the people of the 36th special regiment. He added that the court agrees with all the defense arguments in the complaint and the decision of the prosecutor Josef Gacek, who stopped the trial twice.
The trial began with the accusations of the relatives of the victims of the Smolensk disaster. Its basis was Art. Article 231 of the Criminal Code, which provides up to 3 years of imprisonment for failure to fulfill the obligations of a public official. The indictment was filed after the Warsaw-Prague District Prosecutor's Office lawfully closed an investigation into the arrangements for the flights of the Prime Minister and the President to Smolensk on April 7 and 10, 2010.
In 2019, he was convicted
In June 2019, the Warsaw District Court in the first instance illegally sentenced Arabski to 10 months in prison and sentenced him to two years of imprisonment. The court also found an official of the prime minister's office Monika B. guilty and sentenced her to 6 months of imprisonment and one year of imprisonment. The remaining three accused officials – Miloslav K. from the office of the Prime Minister and Justina G. and Grzegorz S. from the Polish embassy in Moscow – were acquitted by the court.
Then SO found Arabski guilty for not fulfilling the duties of the coordinator responsible for the organization of flights of Polish military aircraft in the period from March 16, 2010 to April 10, 2010 in Warsaw, as the head of the prime minister's office. ” “In connection with the foreign visit of the President of the Republic of Poland and his entourage to the territory of Russia, which was planned for April 10, 2010, he allowed the use of special air transport, knowing that there is no airport in Smolensk. the amphibious operation was allowed, which created a real danger,” the court of first instance decided.
A multi-year process
Both the prosecutor's office, which wanted, among other things, to ban Arabski from occupying managerial positions, and the defense lawyers, who wanted his acquittal, appealed against the court's verdict.
In June 2021, the Court of Appeal in Warsaw upheld the first-instance sentences against Arabski and B. The only change was to change the description of the crime they were charged with. The idea was to expand it to include mention of actions against public interests and private interests. All the acquittals were then affirmed.
The cassation case was filed by the defense lawyers of the two convicts, as well as the prosecution – against Miloslav K., another official who was legally acquitted by the courts. The Supreme Court rejected the cassation appeal to the detriment of K., but due to the general decision of the Supreme Court, the verdict of acquittal was also canceled.
In December of last year, the Supreme Court annulled the judgment of Arabsky and B., the main reason for which – according to the Supreme Prosecutor's Office – was the “inconsistency of the personnel” of the second-level court. This includes the selection of two judges to hear cases in the SA in the manner previously carried out in the National Judicial Council after 2017 and the reform of this body.
Then the Supreme Court noted that there is an inconsistency in the arguments of the court of first instance. However, he added, it would be premature to consider other evidence of the cassation appeal as an official reason for the annulment of the verdict.
Main photo source: Forum
