Law and Justice are calling for an extraordinary meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Human Rights to look into the death of prisoner Artur Zirajewski.

In a statement sent to the PAP news agency, spokesman Mariusz Blaszczak writes that the party will be demanding from the Minister for Justice detailed information on the "unexplained death of Zirajewski”, a key witness in the unsolved murder of General Marek Papała in 1996.

In the opinion of Law and Justice, his death on Sunday night in a prison hospital in Gdansk was "mysterious and questionable."

Prosecutor Zbigniew Niemczyk has said that the death was caused by an illness and no other cause.

The prosecutor assured, however, that the investigation into the death of the witness will continue and once toxicology reports have been gathered the results will be made public within 30 days.

Zirajewski had been taken to the prison hospital on December 28 after being found unconscious in his cell and leaving a note behind addressed to his wife, claims Rzeczpospolita. The newspaper’s informant said that the prisoner had taken a large quantity of pills in an attempt - not at suicide as had been earlier claimed, but to get to the hospital where he would later try to escape.

The tablets he took were normal sleeping pills, says Lt. Col. Leszek Urbanowicz, deputy director of the investigation currently on into his death in Gdansk, who dismissed the incident as a suicide attempt.

“There was no indication that Arthur Z. wanted to commit suicide. He was behaving normally and asked only for sleeping pills as he was having trouble sleeping,” said Urbanowicz.

Artur Zirajewski - aka Ivan - who had given evidence in the case of the murder in Warsaw of General Marek Papala - died in hospital from what doctors original diagnosed as a “pulmonary embolism”.

It emerged on Monday that a few weeks before his death, Zdrojewski tried to do a deal to swap more information on the case for an early release date from jail, where he is doing a 15 year stretch in connection with another murder.

Zirajewski had given evidence in the US extradition attempt two years ago against businessman Edward Mazur, who he accused of being connected with the murder of Papala.

A US court threw out the extradition requestion as it was based entirely on the evidence of Zirajewski, a convicted felon.

A further indication that he did not commit suicide comes from his attempt, on November 19, to reduce his sentence by giving more evidence on the Papala case.

“He had made two similar proposals beforehand: both were rejected - in February and then June. Last submitted to the court 19 November,” revealed Przemyslaw Banasik, a spokesman for the Gdansk district court.

The Law and Justice party will make its proposal for a special parliamentary committee to look into his death on Wednesday. They will be asking for more details on a secret note that the prisoner had received shortly before he died. (pg)

Source: PAP, IAR, TVP Info