Crash prosecutor shoots himself in head

Colonel Mikolaj Przybyl speaks during the press conference. Photo / AFP

A Polish military prosecutor linked to an investigation into the 2010 air crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski shot himself in the head yesterday after abruptly cutting short a news conference where he had been defending the work of his office.

Colonel Mikolaj Przybyl was speaking to reporters from Polish television at his office in Poznan when he suddenly asked the journalists to leave because he needed "a rest".

Seconds after the journalists walked out, they heard a bang.

"We heard a loud thud and we went back into the room thinking that one of the cameras had fallen over," a reporter told Polish television. "Then we saw the colonel lying motionless on the floor in a pool of blood with his military-issue firearm beside him."

Przybyl was taken to hospital where he was in a stable condition. Doctors said the shot had damaged his skull but his life was not in danger.

At the news conference the colonel defended himself against allegations his office had eavesdropped on journalists conducting an investigation into the crash at an airport serving the Russian city of Smolensk. He also said he objected to plans by the Prosecutor General, Andrzej Seremet, to put military prosecutors under civilian authority.

"During my entire service as a civilian and later military prosecutor, I have never brought shame to the Republic of Poland," he said. "I will continue to uphold the honour of an officer of the Polish armed forces. Thank you, please give me a five-minute break, I need a rest."

Przybyl then walks out of frame. The sound of a gun being cocked can be heard. It is followed by a loud bang. Subsequent pictures show shocked journalists gathered around the colonel, who is slumped on the floor beneath a wall-mounted Polish eagle.

Earlier the colonel had denied suggestions military prosecutors spied on journalists investigating the crash.

The aircraft crashed in thick fog while attempting to land. The President, his wife and the other 93 people on board were killed. Investigators concluded that pilot error was to blame.

- INDEPENDENT