Warsaw exhumes two more Smolensk victims

Two male victims of the 2010 Smolensk air disaster were exhumed in Warsaw on Monday morning, owing to concerns that the deceased were buried in the wrong graves.

The process began at 4 am local time at the Temple of Divine Providence (Warsaw's new national pantheon), and a cemetery in the district of Pyry, south Warsaw.

Although the names of the victims have not been released, unofficially, it is understood that the exhumations concern Father Zdzislaw Krol, Chaplain of the Katyn Families, and Professor Ryszard Rumianek, former rector of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University.

Military Prosecutor Captain Andrzej Wicharski made a statement to reporters at the Temple of Divine Providence this morning.

“Concerns that the bodies may have been exchanged arose after studying documents produced by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, as well as due to opinions of Polish experts” he said, as quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

“Most probably, in spite of correct identification by the families [of the victims], the bodies were mistakenly identified by the Russian side during procedures carried out at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Moscow.”

Captain Wicharski disclosed that the remains will now be taken or initial tests to the Department of Forensic Medicine at Krakow's Jagiellionian University, and then to Wroclaw, south west Poland, where the full autopsies and DNA tests will be carried out.

All in all, there have been nine exhumations of Smolensk victims to date. Four of these victims were buried in the wrong graves, as proved by the last two waves of exhumations this autumn, counting former President of the Polish government-in-exile Ryszard Kaczorowski, Solidarity activist Anna Walentynowicz, and two other victims whose names have not been disclosed, owing to the families' wishes.

The 2010 Smolensk air disaster occurred as the delegation of President Lech Kaczynski flew to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Crime, marking the execution of over 22,000 Polish officers by Soviet secret police (NKVD).

All 96 Poles aboard the plane died in the crash.

Monday 12 November 2012

http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/118101,Warsaw-exhumes-two-more-Smolensk-victims-