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According to Rzeczpospolita daily, after four years of examining the case prosecutors are unable to estimate when the investigation may end. Experts refuse to issue opinions without being able to examine original evidence, including among others CVR and wreckage of the airplane, and without their opinion the investigation cannot be closed.
So far, Prosecutor General Andrzej Seremet have been declaring that lack of access to the evidence should not be any problem; however, some disagreement has emerged between prosecutors and experts; the latter now demand access to all original evidence, which remains in Russia, with Polish authorities working to this day only on selected copies of original evidence provided by Russian authorities. Meanwhile, the authorities in Moscow refuse to release the wreckage and other evidence. It is speculated that after the Ukrainian crisis broke gaining access to the evidence became even less likely for political reasons.
"We have appointed experts to prepare a comprehensive opinion on the Smolensk investigation. The composition of this team depending on the situation is between 16 to 24 professionals of various fields." said Attorney General Andrzej Seremet back in autumn of 2012.
A comprehensive report is fundamental to the investigation. The intention of the prosecution is that such an expert opinion would become the basis for future decisions on steps to take concerning the investigation - leading either to the completion of the investigation (if experts were to consider the disaster an ordinary accident and blame the pilots), or bringing to justice those responsible for contributing to the disaster (if experts were to decide to blame any third parties, such as Russian tower controllers or those responsible for organising the flight).
However, the experts have refused to prepare a comprehensive opinion until they will be able to have free access to original evidence, including the Tupolev wreckage and original flight recorders, i.e. black boxes. At the moment all key evidence are in the possession of Russian authorities, who are far from eager in returning them.
A team of experts working for the prosecution headed Col. Dr. Ing. Antoni Milkiewicz. This legendary figure - explained Airlines plane crash Tadeusz Kosciuszko, which took place on 9 May 1987 Kabacki Forest near Warsaw. Driven by the experts proved the Russians structural mistakes in the engine Il-62M aircraft. Milkiewicz paid for it the position of chief engineer of the Air Force.
- Are experts able to prepare its opinion without original evidence?
- Drafting an opinion without access to original evidence is impossible. - declared Col. Dr. Ing. Antoni Milkiewicz, who heads the team of experts working with the prosecution. Col. Dr. Ing. Antoni Milkiewicz is a legendary figure behind the crash investigation of the LOT Tadeusz Kosciuszko flight which took place on 9 May 1987 in the Kabacki Forest near Warsaw. His team of experts concluded on that occasion have established that the cause of the that crash was due to structural mistakes in the engine of the Il-62M aircraft.
Lt.-Col. Janusz Wojcik of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office admitted that "Until we are in possession of all the original evidence, a full comprehensive opinion will not be possible (...) The essence of the matter is to have unfettered access to evidence and to prepare an appropriate research."
He then described other missing evidence, which the prosecution expects from Russian authorities. It's more than just the wreckage and the black boxes. "Military Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw are expecting, among others, from Russian authorities information and documentation on the airport in Smolensk, its equipment, people working at the airport, normative acts governing the system of control of air traffic at the airport in reference to the situation of 10 April 2010."
Lt. Col. Wojcik also specified that the prosecution has been consistently seeking to obtain the originals recorders, wreckage and documentation. "The prosecution does not intend to give them up." he declared. However, Russians consistently argue that they require all original evidence for the completion of their own investigation. "It seems that the Russian side believes that the detention of the wreckage can be a way to influence the course of the investigation." - declared a few weeks ago, Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Back in December in Warsaw, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested that the Russian investigation could be completed by April 2014, however then we were in a completely different geopolitical situation. Today - with Russia having occupied Crimea, and tense Russian relations with NATO and having blamed Poland for inspiring a revolution in Ukraine - the swift return of the original Smolensk evidence is unlikely.
The fate of the most important investigation in Poland since April 10th, 2010 has untimely remained in the hands of the Russian authorities.
31-03-2014; Rzeczpospolita; p.A4