Ryszard C. is led away from scene of crime; below right: protestors outside Presidential Palace; photos - PAPPolitical assistant Paweł Kowalski was stabbed in the throat after the man, Ryszard C. burst into the Law and Justice offices at around 11.00 CET, Tuesday morning brandishing a knife and a converted air pistol.
Sixty two year old Ryszard C., now under arrest, is a tax driver from Czestochowa. He is single without children. At a court hearing yesterday, admitted his guilt, says prosecutor Krzysztof Kopania, though what motivated him is still unclear. He does not appear to exhibit signs of mental illness, however.
Doctors say that the stabbing victim, Pawel Kowlaski is lucky to be alive. Surgeons had to perform a tracheotomy in a two hour operation yesterday and his condition is now stable, says spokeswoman at the Military Medical Academy in Lodz, Anna Tomczyk.
The dead man is 62 year-old Marek Rosiak, a political assistant to Law and Justice member of the European Parliament Janusz Wojciechowski, who was hit by four bullets when the attacker burst into the first floor offices.
Colleague Czeslaw Telatycki told the Rzeczpospolita daily that Rosiak was a skilled political operator. He leaves a wife, who is also an active member of the Law and Justice party in Lodz.
After the attack, Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said the “political and moral” responsibility for the attack law at the door of Prime Minister Donald Tusk after a “campaign of hate” directed at his party.
Last night, supporters of Jaroslaw Kaczynski gathered outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Warsaw and later the Presidential Palace in protest at the perceived “hate campaign”.
Leader of the Law and Justice party in parliament Mariusz Blaszczak repeated the accusation that the ruling Civic Platform must take the blame for Tuesday’s murder.
“it is always the responsibility of the government because the government holds the instruments of power," he told Polish radio this morning.
Blaszczak singled out politicians such as Janusz Palikot, who has been a relentless critic of the Kaczynski brothers over the years but also deputy parliament speaker Stefan Niesiolowski and political advisor Wladyslaw Bartoszewski for heightening political tension in the country.
He also said he hopes there will not be more attacks on party activists in the run up to local elections in November.
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