Ryszard C. arrested in Lodz minutes after shooting; photo - PAPCivic Platform (PO) has admitted, after an earlier denial, that the alleged killer of an opposition party political assistant last October was, in fact, a member of their party.
The accusation that Ryszard C. (surname withheld) was a member of the ruling Civic Platform was made by Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who was in Lodz in central Poland yesterday afternoon, where he took the opportunity to reflect on the murder of Marek Rosiak.
Rosiak, an assistant to member of parliament Janusz Wojciechowski (PiS) was gunned down in the Law and Justice Lodz office on 19 October by 62 year-old taxi driver, Ryszard C.
Kaczynski used yesterday's opportunity to state that the assailant had been a member of Civic Platform for over a year.
“The attacker was a man of his times,” Kaczynski told journalists. “His hatred was directed in one direction: towards Law and Justice - precisely in the direction which has been unceasingly sustained by Civic Platform, and personally by the Prime Minister,” he said, taking a direct swipe at Donald Tusk.
The leader of PiS reflected that “initially , the man who killed Marek Rosiak was presented as a person who hated everybody, but today we know that this was just more propaganda.”
‘Hate campaign’
Kaczynski stated that the alleged campaign of hatred was a “cynical game”, which had already cost the lives of 100 people, referring to the deaths of 95 politicians and military in last April’s plane crash in western Russia.
“Without that hatred there would not have been a Smolensk disaster, without that hatred Marek Rosiak would not have been killed,” Kaczynski surmised.
In the immediate aftermath of the crime, Ryszard C. was quoted as saying “I have cancer and seven months to live.”
The attacker is also recorded as saying that his original intention was to kill Jaroslaw Kaczynski in Warsaw, but later decided that “any politician would do, it did not matter from what party, so that they would not be so sure of themselves.”
Politicians from Civic Platform initially reacted with incredulity and anger to the suggestion that Ryszard C. was a member of their party. However, this morning, head of the Civic Platform’s parliamentary party Tomasz Tomczykiewicz was obliged to make a statement confirming that Ryszard C. had ties with PO.
“We did not know that Ryszard C. was in Civic Platform,” he claimed today.
After a short investigation, Tomczykiewicz expanded that the defendant had in fact been a member from April 2004, but his membership was suspended in January 2006, owing to lack of activity.
Tomczykiewicz claimed that his colleagues had previously checked the party's register, but found no mention of Ryszard C., because “the register only covers the last three years.” (nh/pg)
source: PAP/IAR