Head of Law and Justice (PiS) party Jarosław Kaczyński was joined by other PiS dignitaries in commemorating the 14th anniversary of the Smolensk air disaster at a memorial in the center of Warsaw.
He took direct action against a wreath laid by some anti-PiS activists, which claimed his brother President Lech Kaczyński had caused the crash by insisting the pilot landed the plane in Smolensk despite poor visibility at the airport. There is no evidence that Lech Kaczyński had taken such action.
Warsaw police reported the incident, and Kaczyński removed the offensive wreath. The police had cautioned Kaczyński against doing so, as legally it constituted an offense, but the PiS leader responded by saying: “Don’t tell me I cannot act against something that is extreme and outrageous, repeating Putin’s lies and offending the memory of my brother.”
The inscription on the offending wreath reads “In memory of the 95 victims of Lech Kaczyński who, ignoring all procedures, ordered pilots to land in Smolensk in extreme weather conditions. May you rest in peace,” together with a postscript underneath the wreath which read: “Stop creating false heroes.”
The police reported the incident but did not detain Kaczyński, citing the fact that he is well known, so there was no need to establish the identity of the perpetrator before initiating any legal process.
The Smolensk plane crash on April 10, 2010, in which Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and many other state dignitaries died, happened on the way to a commemoration of the Katyn massacre committed by Stalin’s henchmen back in 1940.
According to a Russian investigation, the cause was pilot error. A Polish investigation led by the Ministry of the Interior also blamed the pilots but pointed to mistakes made by traffic controllers as well.
However, Jarosław Kaczyński and his supporters believe that the crash was caused by a Russian plot against Lech Kaczyński, a Polish president who had clashed with Putin over the Russian invasion of Georgia and who had been a vociferous supporter of NATO enlargement to the east. A criminal investigation by Polish prosecutors is still ongoing 14 years after the crash.
