Did Prime Minister Szydło conceal the truth about the accident? The prosecutor's office does not forgive the former BOR officers

The investigation of the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Białystok, in which nine people, including eight former BOR officers, were charged with making false statements in connection with the accident of Prime Minister Beata Szydło in Oświęcim in 2017, has been extended until June.

Zbigniew Szpiczko, spokesman for the Białystok prosecutor's office, informed journalists about this on Tuesday. The press conference, during which the activities undertaken so far in this investigation were summarized, was in the form of a statement for the media.

Investigators took a closer look at government protection from 2017

The case involving officers of the then Government Protection Bureau (currently the State Protection Service) is an excluded part of a larger investigation related to the accident in Auschwitz.

It was initiated in the spring of 2025, and a team of four prosecutors is investigating, among other things, whether in the years 2017-2023 there was no abuse of powers or failure to fulfill obligations by public officials while performing official duties in the course of preparatory proceedings conducted by the District Prosecutor's Office in Kraków, and then in court proceedings in the first instance and in appeal proceedings.

The investigation also concerns the accident of February 10, 2017, involving government cars and a Fiat Seicento, as a result of which the passengers of one of these cars and the then Prime Minister Beata Szydło were injured.

Another thread of the investigation concerns testifying untruths and concealing the truth while testifying – as witnesses – by the then BOR officers regarding the circumstances of the accident.

This is primarily about the issue of using sound signals during the passage of a government column. The testimonies of BOR officers were evidence in the investigation in Kraków, and then in the trial before the District Court in Oświęcim and in the appeal proceedings before the District Court in Kraków.

The last thread concerns police officers and prosecutors; here, investigators also examine whether there was any abuse of powers and failure to fulfill obligations when securing evidence at the scene of the accident in Oświęcim before the formal initiation of an investigation into the circumstances of this road accident.

Eight service members with serious charges

Based on the principles of procedural economy (there is a chance that the proceedings in this respect will be ended earlier), the prosecutor's team in Białystok excluded the thread concerning the officers of the former BOR from this large investigation.

The charges (eight former BOR officers and a civilian) were presented to the suspects during activities carried out at the prosecutor's office from mid-February to the end of March this year. Proc. Szpiczko informed that of the eight suspected former BOR officers, four serve in the SOP; however, they are currently suspended from their duties due to the allegations. The ninth suspect is a civilian – a resident of Oświęcim.

The interrogation of the SOP officers took place in secret, and there are no grounds for applying preventive measures to the suspects, said prosecutor Szpiczko.

Investigators do not reveal whether the suspects confessed or what explanations they gave. Activities in this case are still ongoing and the investigation period has been extended until June 9; almost all suspects want to see the collected evidence at the end.

Who was really at fault in Auschwitz? Settlements after years

In the investigation of the Krakow prosecutor's office investigating the circumstances of the accident in Oświęcim, the Seicento driver was accused of unintentionally causing the accident.

In mid-March 2018, the Krakow district prosecutor's office applied to the court in Oświęcim for a finding of guilt with a conditional discontinuation of the proceedings for a probation period of one year. In July 2020, this court found the Fiat driver guilty of unintentionally causing the accident. At the same time, he conditionally discontinued the proceedings for one year. The court found that the BOR driver also broke the regulations. In February 2023, the District Court in Kraków upheld the driver's sentence.

The case of the accident of the government column in Oświęcim was included in the report of the National Prosecutor's Office on the audit of cases from 2016-2023, in which irregularities were found. (PAP)

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