Russian prosecutors investigating the cause of the Smolensk air disaster are going to interview twenty Polish witnesses, including civil servants from the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and officers from 36th Special Aviation Regiment, writes the Rzeczpospolita daily.

Tomasz Arabski, head of the chancellery and his associates are also expected to be interviewed by the Russians. Minister Arabski was one of the key figures involved in organization of the late President Lech Kaczynski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s visit to Katyn in April last year so he is an important witness for the Russian prosecutors.

It has not been decided yet whether Polish authorities will provide prosecutors with classified documents on organization of VIP flights. Rzeczpospolita claims that apart from examining preparations for the presidential plane’s flight on 10 April, the Russians will also want to investigate phone calls made from the board minutes before the crash.

“Police officers are trying to flee reforms,” headlines Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. An increasing number of policemen apply for retirement in fear of the reform of the pension scheme. According to the reform, which was announced three years ago, police officers will have to serve twenty, not fifteen, years before retiring and will be deprived of bonuses. Only in the first quarter of this year, 3,000 police officers applied for retirement, which is twice more than in the same period three years ago, when the reform was not drafted yet. Police officers retire to the detriment of the state budget which spends 1.6 billion euro annually for police pensions, writes Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

The Gazeta Wyborcza daily publishes extracts from the so-called Black Book, a report on racism in Poland written by “Never Again” Association and the Centre for Monitoring racism in eastern Europe which promote multicultural understanding and fight against racial and ethnic prejudices. According to the Black Book, over 400 race hate crimes and incidents were reported in Poland between 2009 and 2010, including devastation of Jewish cemeteries, distribution of Neo-fascist leaflets, anti-Semitic slogans at football matches and assaults on the Roma, black and gay people. Racism in Poland also affects people of different faith and nationality. A man who was mistaken for a German was beaten and called “Goebbels,” the report shows. The Black Book also includes anti-Semitic quotes from the ultra-Catholic Radio Maryja, writes Gazeta Wyborcza.

Environment Ministry has drafted a law which introduces fines for emitting odour, writes the Metro daily. A company, institution or an individual who emits smelly gases will have to pay up to 250 euro fine per day. A special company will examine the concentration of smell particles in the air if a complaint is filed at a municipality. If it turns out that the concentration is too high the emitter will be asked to install air filters or seal up the building in order to reduce emission or fined if they do not follow the order.

The new law will probably be implemented in two years, writes Metro. (mg)