Polish Police to Blame For Killing Ukrainian Citizen, Says Ukraine’s Embassy in Poland
The scandal that erupted last Sunday over a Ukrainian citizen killed by a Polish policeman promises to be anything but a tempest in a teapot. On January 30 Ukraine officially expressed doubt about the preliminary information that a Ukrainian citizen was shot dead on January 28 near the Polish town of Swidnik, Lublin province through his own fault. In this connection, the Ukrainian Embassy in that country addressed a note to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, strongly protesting “the aggressive actions of the Polish police in respect to a Ukrainian citizen.” The Ukrainian Embassy requested in the same note that the Poland conduct an objective investigation of the case and take appropriate measures in order to prevent such accidents in the future, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
According to information disseminated by Ukrainian Embassy press representative Oleksiy Platonov, a я Skoda driven by the Ukrainian citizen was stopped by Polish police who claim they had followed the car quite a distance, for the driver, they say, would not stop. During inspection of the documents, a quarrel arose between the driver and the policemen, which resulted in the police using their weapons, fatally shooting the Ukrainian citizen, UNIAN reports. However, some other details became known as well, of which Polish law enforcement had said nothing to Ukrainian representatives, whereupon the press service of our embassy protested the Polish version, after it conducted its own investigation. Ambassy staff found out that Serhiy Kudria, 25 and a resident of Kyiv oblast, was returning to Ukraine from the Czech Republic, where he was legally employed. His pregnant wife was in the car with him. On the morning of January 28 she went into labor and Serhiy speeded up. When he noticed the Polish police patrol ordering him to stop, Kudria stopped the car and did not show any resistance, Interfax-Ukraine stressed. In spite of this, one of the cops ran up to the car with a pistol in his hands, threw the driver out of the car, knocked him down, bring the pistol to his head and shot. Kudria died as his wife looked on, after which she was delivered in grave condition to the hospital. Now she is now being cared for by the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland.
After the shot, the policeman started looking for the shell, then cast it and his pistol into the road ditch. Although there were witnesses, the representatives of the Polish police are still trying to shield their coworker and make Serhiy the initiator of the accident. At the moment it is difficult to say whose version, the Polish or Ukrainian, will prevail. The investigation is not finished, and one should not jump to conclusions. In any case the Ukrainian side has demonstrated its readiness to defend its citizen. On January 30, the note mentioned was presented to the Polish Consul General, Ihor Hrushko, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs press service said this at a briefing.
President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland has sent a letter to President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine in connection with the murder. Oleksiy Platonov, press attachП at the Embassy of Ukraine in the Polish Republic, told our correspondent that in his letter Pres. Kwasniewski asks Serhiy Kudria’s widow and children “to accept his condolences.” The president of Poland also pointed out that all circumstances of Mr. Kudria’s death would be studied thoroughly and objectively by Polish prosecutors. The Ukrainian press officer also revealed that the murder of the Ukrainian citizen had caused quite a stir in Poland. Polish mass media comments are balanced and neutral. The Kudria case is now being investigated by Lublin prosecutors. The Ukrainian Embassy has not been informed about the fate of the Polish policeman who committed the slaying. Judging by press reports, Mr. Platonov said, the policeman “is now suspended from duty.” Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine is preparing a special group which will go to Poland to investigate the circumstances of the murder. The Ukrainian Embassy, citing the inquiry conducted by consular department employees, rejects the Polish police version that the Ukrainian citizen offered resistance when asked to produce his documents, which forced the policeman to use his weapon.
The coroner’s report was made public in Lublin last Friday. The forensic report in fact denies the claim that the shot was made pointblank, with due account of the nature of the wound, Gazeta Wyborcza reported. According to representative of the Lublin district prosecutor’s office, Andrzej Wasiak, the examination results are only one of the elements of this case. He says prosecutors will continue to consider all versions of the highway tragedy, including the one offered by the Ukrainian Embassy. Mr. Wasiak says we must wait for the results of other examinations including ballistics. As Gazeta Wyborcza notes, all the prosecutor’s office in Chelm, which is conducting the investigation, so far knows is that the motorist and the policeman quarreled, during which the latter fired his pistol twice and one shot proved fatal.
Director of the Polish government’s information center Andrzej Papierz told The Daythat Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek of Poland had assured Ukrainian Ambassador Dmytro Pavlychko last Wednesday that “all circumstances of this case will be thoroughly investigated, and whoever was guilty will be brought to account.” Premier Buzek also gave Ambassador Pavlychko a personal letter for Mr. Kudria’s widow.
The Polish premier emphasized that very many things connect his country with the Ukrainian people: “We maintain partnership with your country,” he said. We will add on our part: we hope the Serhiy Kudria tragedy will not jeopardize Ukrainian-Polish relations but promote a sober self-appraisal. For this is far from the first grave incident involving our citizens abroad (but perhaps the first one to which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has actively reacted): Foreign Ministry spokesman Ihor Hrushko told The Daythat 395 Ukrainian citizens had died abroad last year. And if everything just ends up with finding a scapegoat, we will again become a nation of homebodies — some out of fear of arrest, others out of fear to a similar incident
The Poles are most likely to look into and make conclusions about their police — not only with respect to a specific policeman but also, so to speak, in principle. Will we do likewise about ourselves?
