Investigation into railway sabotage. Arrest for a man who helped saboteurs

The prosecutor charged Volodymyr B. with aiding and abetting in the case of the acts of sabotage of November 15 and 16 against the railway infrastructure – announced on Monday the spokesman of the National Prosecutor's Office, Prosecutor Przemysław Nowak. This is the third person to be charged in this case. The man was taken into custody.

According to the findings of the investigation, Volodymyr B., a citizen of Ukraine, facilitated the commission of the crime by the direct perpetrators by helping to reconnoiter the area and prepare further actions regarding acts of sabotage on the railway tracks in the towns of Mika and Gołąb.

The man was detained on November 20 by officers of the Central Police Investigation Bureau. Two days later the prosecutor of the Masovian department of the National Prosecutor's Office charged Volodymyr B. with aiding Oleksandr K. (39 years old) and Yevhenij I. (41 years old) in committing acts of sabotage on November 15-16 in the towns of Mika and Gołąb, acting for Russian intelligence.

Proc. Nowak said that the evidence shows that in September this year Volodymyr B. drove Yevheniy I. to the area of ​​planned sabotage activities (railway line No. 7 near the towns of Mika and Gołąb), enabling him to reconnoiter the area and choose a place to plant explosives, as well as place an image recording device and install a metal element on the rails.

After presenting the charges, the prosecutor questioned Volodymyr B. as a suspect. The prosecutor's office does not inform about his attitude in the trial.

At the prosecutor's request, the court imposed a three-month arrest on the man.

The proceedings are conducted by a special team appointed by the Prosecutor General, which includes prosecutors from the Masovian Department of the National Prosecutor's Office and officers of the Internal Security Agency and the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The prosecutor's office also brings charges against two Ukrainian citizens in this case: Oleksandr K. (39 years old) and Yevhenii I. (41 years old). They concern committing acts of sabotage of a terrorist nature for the benefit of the intelligence service of the Russian Federation against the Republic of Poland. This is a qualified objection based on three articles:

• concerning a type of espionage in the form of acts of sabotage on behalf of foreign intelligence,
• causing a risk of disaster in land traffic,
• use of explosives.

The penalty is life imprisonment.

On Wednesday, the Belarusian charge d'affaires received a note requesting the extradition of both men.

Earlier, four more people were detained as part of an investigation into acts of sabotage. Three were released and one was charged with hiding documents. The prosecutor submitted a request for temporary arrest to the court, which was not granted.

On the weekend of November 15-16, acts of sabotage occurred on the Warsaw-Dorohusk route. In the town of Mika (Masovian Voivodeship, Garwoliński County), an explosion of an explosive device destroyed a railway track. In another place, near the Gołąb railway station (Puławy County, Lublin Voivodeship), on Sunday a train with 475 passengers had to suddenly brake due to a damaged railway line.

The prosecutor's office initiated an investigation into acts of sabotage of a terrorist nature directed against railway infrastructure and committed for the benefit of foreign intelligence. The State Commission for the Investigation of Railway Accidents also initiated proceedings in these cases.

On Friday, the spokesman of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ruslan Barankou, stated that Belarus joined the search for people suspected of carrying out sabotage in Poland. He emphasized that if the whereabouts of these people in Belarus are determined, they will be detained and “in accordance with the applicable procedure and taking into account all circumstances related to the case, the request to hand them over to the Polish side will be considered.” He noted that their entry into Belarus has now been confirmed, and intensive searches are already underway. (PAP)

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