Krzysztof Olewnik

The parliamentary investigative commission looking into the abduction and murder of Krzysztof Olewnik has started interrogating witnesses.

Elzbieta Gielo from the Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw and Leszek Wawrzyniak from the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Sierpc, central Poland, are testifying today in front of the parliamentary investigative commission. Wawrzyniak directed the investigation of Olewnik’s case in its early stages and is accused of serious negligence in the gathering and investigation of evidence.

The abduction and a brutal murder of Krzysztof Olewnik, the son of a wealthy businessman, shocked public opinion in Poland. Olewnik was kidnapped in 2001. His family paid 300,000 zlotys ransom but the kidnappers did not set him free. Later, two years after his abduction, Olewnik was tortured and brutally murdered. 

The investigation into the case has been full of mistakes and negligence. Evidence was not secured or analyzed, documents and other evidence were accidentally destroyed. Besides, three men charged with Olewnik’s abduction and murder, Slawomir Kosciuk, Robert Pazik and Wojciech Franiewski, all, mysteriously, committed  suicide in prison. 

The family of Krzysztof Olewnik, convinced that the series of bungles and deaths are not a coincidence, and that high-rank politicians may have been involved, called for a parliamentary investigative commission into Olewnik’s abduction and murder.  (mg)

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