Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar has appointed a team to prepare a White Paper on the death of former SLD MP Barbara Bilda. The announcement explains that “doubts still appear in the public sphere as to the circumstances of the course of the event, as a result of which Barbara Blida tragically died.” Włodzimierz Czarzasty requested an explanation of the circumstances of Bilda's death.
The spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General's Office, Prosecutor Anna Adamiak, announced in a statement that the team's task is to prepare a White Paper on the death of the former MP, as a set of systematized documents concerning the actions taken by the prosecutor's office, taking into account the work of the Sejm Investigative Committee appointed to investigate the circumstances of the death of Barbara Blida.
The team is to collect documentation and draw conclusions from criminal proceedings and the work of the Sejm investigative committee. According to the statement, when appointing the team, the Prosecutor General took into account the request of the Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty to clarify whether the actions taken by the prosecutor's office in this case were correct and complete. It was justified that “there are still doubts in the public space as to the circumstances of the event that resulted in Barbara Blida's tragic death.”
In April, Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty (Left Wing) announced that he would ask Bodnar to analyze the possibility of resuming the proceedings to clarify the circumstances of Barbara Blida's death. In his opinion, Blida did not commit suicide. – The more I observe the actions of people associated with Sovereign Poland, the more I am convinced of my thesis – he emphasized.
Barbara Bilda died in 2007
Barbara Blida allegedly shot herself on April 25, 2007, when ABW officers came to search her house in Siemianowice Śląskie and detain her on the order of the District Prosecutor's Office in Katowice. B. MP SLD, former Minister of Construction, charges were to be presented in the investigation regarding the so-called coal scandal.
The circumstances of Blida's arrest were investigated by the Łódź prosecutor's office. She accused former ABW officer Grzegorz S., who headed the so-called implementation group for failure to fulfill official duties and, therefore, for acting to the detriment of public and private interests “by creating a danger to the proper course of procedural activities and to the life and health of Barbara Blida.”
In the first trial, held in secret between 2009 and 2013 before the Siemianowice court, S. was found guilty and sentenced to six months of suspended imprisonment. At that time, the court agreed with the prosecutor's argument that during Blida's detention, S., as the person responsible for the proper course of action, did not order the other two ABW officers to search Blida and the bathroom in her home. He himself did not take any action in this direction.
After an appeal by the defense, the ruling was overturned in 2014 by the Katowice District Court. After a retrial, S. was acquitted. The prosecutor's office appealed the ruling, demanding a new trial. During the appeal hearing before the Katowice court, however, the prosecution changed its position and the appeal was withdrawn. Since Blida's family did not appeal the ruling, the acquittal became final.
The Łódź prosecutor’s office found no grounds to bring charges against the two remaining ABW officers from the execution group, as they were carrying out their duties within the scope of orders issued by Grzegorz S. Therefore, the proceedings were discontinued.
The investigation threads concerning securing traces and evidence in Blida's house after her death, possible pressure on prosecutors involved in the proceedings and the actions of Katowice prosecutors after Blida's death were also discontinued.
The MP's death was investigated by an investigative committee
The case of Witold Marczuk, who headed the ABW from November 2005 to September 2006, also ended in discontinuation. The Łódź prosecutor's office, which accused him of exceeding his authority and acting to the detriment of the public interest in the investigation into the preparations for the ABW to detain Blida and film the operation in her home, ultimately found no crime.
The case of Blida's death was also investigated by the parliamentary inquiry committee (established in December 2007, it adopted its final report in July 2011). According to its main conclusions and recommendations, the former prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and the Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro they should appear before the State Tribunal, and the former head and deputy head of the ABW, Bogdan Święczkowski and Grzegorz Ocieczek – should hear the charges.
On September 25, 2015, the Sejm did not accept the motion to bring Ziobro before the State Tribunal. The Sejm majority lacked five votes – to launch the procedure, a majority of 3/5 of the statutory number of MPs, i.e. at least 276 votes, is needed. 271 MPs voted in favor, 152 voted against and two abstained. In this situation, the then Speaker of the Sejm Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska announced the discontinuation of the proceedings in the case.
In April 2016, the Katowice prosecutor's office refused to initiate an investigation, following a notification submitted by PO MP Robert Kropiwnicki. These are the acts that were included in the rejected motion to bring Ziobro before the State Tribunal during the previous term of office of the Sejm. Both Ziobro and Kaczyński have repeatedly said that they see no grounds for bringing them before the Court of Justice.
Main photo source: PAP/Leszek Szymański