General Marek PapalaTwo top suspects in the Papala murder case – former head of Polish Police Headquarters, murdered in 1998 – are in courts today.
Andrzej Z., nicknamed ‘Slowik,’ and Ryszard B., suspects in the case of the unsolved murder of former chief of police General Marek Papala are standing trial at the District Court in Warsaw today.
‘Slowik’ is accused of inducing Artur Zirajewski, alias ‘Iwan,’ into killing of General Papala in 2005, offering him 40,000 USD. Andrzej Z., who was sentenced for being in charge of the infamous Pruszkow mafia, has been in custody since 2003 when he was extradited from Spain.
Ryszard B., also a member of the Pruszkow mafia, is accused of complicity in Papala’s murder and of offering someone 30,000 USD to kill the General. Ryszard B. was detained in Mexico in 2001 and extradited to Poland. He is already serving a 25-year jail sentence for killing a former Pruszkow mafia boss.
Extraordinary safety measures have been taken in the court following the recent death of Artur Zirajewski alias “Iwan”, key witness in the Papala case. Artur Zirajewski, the prosecutor’s top witness, has accused Edward Mazur, a Polish businessman living in the U.S., for having commissioned General Papala’s murder. Polish justice authorities tried to extradite Mazur in 2005, but two years later, the Federal Court in Chicago ruled against the extradition, citing insufficient evidence.
Police chief General Marek Papala was murdered while parking his car meters away from his Warsaw apartment in 1998. It took Polish authorities several years to apprehend Andrzej Z. and Ryszard B., but police were not able to establish, concretely, who commissioned the murder. Apart from the top suspect, Edward Mazur, the Papala contract killing is thought to involve former communist security services agents, high-ranking members of the government and organized crime groups.
“The chances to solve General Papala’s murder case are slim. The trial is rather a smoke screen for the Prosecutor’s Office, which has failed to determine who is responsible for Papala’s death in spite of a lengthy investigation,” said investigative journalist Jerzy Jachowicz. (mg/mmj)
IAR, PAP
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