Poland to open investigation to determine why so few autopsies were carried out for victims of Smolensk plane crash
According to the representative from the National Prosecutor’s Office press service, Eva Bialik, the Polish National Prosecutor’s Office has initiated an investigation into the lack of autopsies after the Smolensk tragedy in Poland, Polish Radio reports.
The office is investigating why some autopsies were not carried out in Poland and who is responsible.
According to Bialik, six years ago in Poland autopsy reports were accepted from Moscow, but examinations from Wroclaw Medical University show that one third of victims were not autopsied at all.
Moreover, the press secretary of the National Prosecutor’s Office reported that, after the bodies were transported to Poland, there were no further autopsies.
The State Prosecutor’s Office states that a comprehensive study will clearly identify victims’ injuries and cause of death, and will also help to reconstruct the tragedy.
Exhumations of bodies will begin in Poland on November 14.
The Tu-154 airplane carried the former President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, and other senior civilian and military officials on board. The plane crashed on the 10th of April 2010 while landing near Smolensk on its way to Katyn, where the Polish delgation travelled in order to hold a memorial for the Polish officers who were killed at the hands of the Soviet NKVD in 1940, an event known as the Katyn Massacre. The plane crash took the lives of 96 people.