Poland remembers 2010 presidential plane crash

A man holds a flag as he visits an exhibition in the centre of Warsaw. The exhibition marks the fifth anniversary of the crash of the Polish government plane in Smolensk, Russia, that killed 96 people on board including the late president Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria.

DPA/Warsaw

Commemorations across Poland yesterday remembered a 2010 plane crash that killed president Lech Kaczynski and dozens of other Polish political and military leaders in an incident that continues to generate conspiracy theories and poison relations with Russia.Kaczynski’s plane was attempting a landing at Smolensk, Russia, on April 10, 2010, when it crashed, killing all 96 people on board.Mourners gathered yesterday before a memorial at the presidential palace after a march through Warsaw, during which many crying supporters carried pictures of Kaczynski.A formal ceremony was also held at the Powazki military cemetery, where the names of the dead were read out, followed by a moment’s silence and individual services for the victims.Separately, a Polish delegation travelled to the site of the crash to lay wreaths.Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the dead president’s twin brother and leader of the opposition Law and Order party, will hold his own memorial later at the palace.The remembrances were marred by renewed claims that the current leaders of Poland had united in a conspiracy to hide the true cause of the crash, which killed many members of Law and Order, now in opposition.Law and Order legislator Antoni Macierewicz yesterday presented the newest findings from his legislative inquiry into the crash, alluding to “multiple explosions” aboard the plane.It is not the first finding put forward by Macierewicz’s group.So far, official investigators have not collaborated any of his theories.President Bronislaw Komorowski said on the radio that he hoped the mourning could unite society in his country.He mooted the idea of a memorial to the Smolensk victims in central Warsaw as a way of bringing people together.However, he rejected calls for an international commission to investigate the crash.“I can only be astounded when someone wants to prove to the whole world that Poland is not in a position to solve its own questions and must continually call upon advisers and experts from abroad,” he said.Many Poles believe Russia played a role in the crash because Kacyznski was on his way to a memorial for the victims of the Katyn massacre, where 22,000 Poles were executed by the Soviet secret services in 1943 during World War II, a crime that was covered up for decades.“The tragedy of Smolensk was the first salvo against peace in the world and Europe,” Macierewicz insisted yesterday, calling the deceased “martyrs”.Continuing disputes between Poland and Russia about the investigation into the crash have not helped matters and led to numerous conspiracy theories.Investigators on both sides of the border continue to tussle about the facts with lead investigator Vladimir Markin in Moscow arguing this week that it has been impossible to make final conclusions about the cause of the accident because Polish officials have failed to answer questions submitted from the Russian side.He said Russia can hand the wreck over to Poland only after it gets answers to all of its questions.His remarks prompted bewilderment in Poland, where investigators said they have answered the “essential” questions, noting that they have shared 130 to 150 folders of data with the Russians.“We can also say that we’re waiting for answers to multiple questions,” said Janusz Wojcik of the Polish military prosecutor’s office, which is also investigating the crash.Many questions have focused on whether someone entered the cockpit on the fatal day and urged the pilots to land despite poor weather because of a sense of urgency that Kaczynski needed to be at the Katyn event.Polish officials on Thursday released two new black box recordings from the crash in which a voice – identified by some as air force commander Andrzej Blasik – tells the pilots, “You can give it a try!” as they debate the wisdom of attempting a landing.