Jadwiga Kaczynska giving interview to gazeta Polska; photo - youtubeThe mother of the late president Lech Kaczynski has given her first filmed interview since the Smolensk tragedy of April 10 which killed her son.
The results are due to be released as a special documentary film by right-wing newspaper Gazeta Polska.
A short trailer of the film has been distributed, in which Jadwiga Kaczynska makes a number of controversial remarks about the tragedy which killed 96 people, among them leaders of some of Poland's political elite and top military brass.
“People perished who were at the head of this state, and the state does not care about them,” she says in a not-so-veiled attack on the Polish government.
“I mean, that the state does not appear to actually exist – which means that there is no government. Because what kind of government do we have now?”
Mrs Kaczynska also reflects on the causes of the crash. Her other son, leader of the Law and Justice party Jaroslaw Kaczynski, believes the government and Russians should take moral responsibility for the disaster.
“It seems to me that they are very afraid of knowing the truth,” she says of the government. “Or they already know it, and are also afraid.”
The octogenarian widow, who was gravely ill in hospital when the accident occurred, was shielded from the news by her surviving son.
It was only after her full recovery - several weeks after the disaster – that Mrs Kaczynska was told the full story of the loss of Lech Kaczynski.
The film will be distributed by Gazeta Polska to tie in with the first anniversary of the crash.
Poles need Smolensk closure
Meanwhile, President Bronislaw Komorowski downplayed the depth of national mourning in an interview with weekly Wprost.
On being asked whether he thought that the wave of commemorative mourning would carry Jaroslaw Kaczynski back into the office of prime minister, Komorowski expressed doubts.
"Poles are not interested in maintaining permanent mourning to that degree," he said.
The ruling Civic Platform (Komorowski's former party, before he was sworn in as president) is currently closer in the polls to Kaczynski's Law and Justice party than it has been for some time.
Komorowski noted that he could not count on Donald Tusk, Civic Platform's current premier, on winning the election, but admitted that "he had someone in mind."
President Komorowski adds that the one-year anniversary on 10 April is a chance to bring closure to the period of national mourning, and should not be another oppotunity to open up political divides in Poland. (nh/pg)