Poland Initiates Arrest Of Smolensk Air Traffic Controllers Who Worked During 2010 Crash

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th September, 2020) Poland is initiating the procedure for the arrest of air traffic controllers who worked at the Smolensk airfield during the plane crash with President Lech Kaczynski on board in 2010, Polish Prosecutor General's Office spokeswoman Ewa Bialik told reporters.

On April 10, 2010, the Tu-154 plane with Kaczynski and other high-ranking Polish officials crashed while landing at the Smolensk-Severny airport. There were 96 people on board, including 88 passengers and eight crew members who flew to the funeral events in Katyn. They all died in the crash. The Polish commission for the re-investigation of the plane crash has put forward various versions of what happened, one of which is the deliberate actions of Russian air traffic controllers.

"Investigative group No.1 of the Prosecutor General's Office applied to the district court of the Warsaw-Mokotow region with a motion for the temporary arrest of three air traffic controllers who served at the Smolensk-Severny airport in 2010," Bialik said.

The court's decision to arrest the dispatchers will be a step toward putting them on the international wanted list with a subsequent demand for their extradition to the Polish authorities.

Bialik explained that "the charges brought against the air traffic controllers relate to the deliberate provocation of a plane crash that resulted in the death of many people."

Earlier, the prosecutor's office issued a decree to change the charges against Russian air traffic controllers from unintentionally provoking a disaster to deliberate action.

In 2011, the Interstate Aviation Committee published the final report on the results of a technical investigation, according to which the direct cause of the crash was the decision of the crew not to leave for an alternate airfield, and systemic reasons were deficiencies in flight support and crew training.