The deceased Krzysztof Olewnik with his sister, Danuta Olewnik, who has been fighting for the truth about her brother's death.

Polish law enforcement is entangled with ex-communist politicians and gangsters and is unable to properly solve the case of the murder of Krzysztof Olewnik, says the family. Should the country call foreign investigators to help out?

Alicja Baczyńska reports

The Polish law enforcement is not coping with the case of abduction and murder of Krzysztof Olewnik. Former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ćwiąkalski resigned after the third prison death of a convict in the case. After several years of complaining about botched investigation procedures, the family of the victim speaks openly: they suspect it was influential politicians of the ex-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) party who commissioned and covered up the killing.

The case is a pretty complex one. Krzysztof Olewnik, son of a businessman, was abducted in 2001. The kidnappers demanded ransom. It was given to them in 2003. But the victim was not freed. He was tortured and brutally murdered a month after the kidnappers received ransom.

Five years after the abduction and three years after his death, the body of Krzysztof Olewnik was found buried in a forest. A year later, direct kidnappers were sentenced to prison. But those who commissioned the crime were never revealed.

And that, for a reason, the family claims. Włodzimierz Olewnik, the father of the victim accuses politicians of the the then ruling ex-communist Democratic Left Alliance (or SLD): 'I am talking about the Democratic Left Alliance, as you represented then the law enforcement. You took away from me my most beloved son, the closest person. You took him away in such an unimaginably cruel way,' he said.

'Now we are sure that there were connections between the local mafia in Płock and politicians - leftist politicians from the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). Last week the prosecutor in Płock decided to accuse one of these politicians of financially abusing and taking illegal money from the Olewnik family after Krzysztof's kidnapping. I talked to the father of Krzysztof Olewnik. He told me he would be disappointed if that was the only accusation in this case,' comments Leszek Szymowski, investigative journalist of the WPROST weekly. 

The late Krzysztof Olewnik

Olewnik family lawyers have been accusing the law enforcement of botched investigation, citing numerous failures on the part of the police, which could not possibly all be accidental, they argue. The police did not analyze basic evidence of the case, such as fingerprints, track down numerous telephone calls from the kidnappers, mark the banknotes of the ransom, secure the place where ransom was given to the kidnappers, follow the bandits after they received the ransom or investigate into anonymous letters that the family was getting. The family kept complaining about all the mistakes, but were never listened to.

Then, after the documents of the case were stolen, and criminals convicted for the kidnapping started dying in mysterious circumstances in prison, the case came to public attention again. The third reportedly suicidal death forced the Justice Minister to resign.

'This investigation was bound to fail from the start, when three detectives of the Polish police said that there were no traces of fight in the house of Krzysztof Olewnik. Of course, now we know that it was not true. Afterwards, a special police group neglected all the traces, anonymous letters, all the signals that  suggested where Krzysztof Olewnik was kept. Also, I cannot understand what prosecutors did. They neglected all the traces, they didn't want to ask and arrest the local gangsters. They also let the proofs, evidences and documents disappear - up to know we don't know how this happened. I think and I'm sure that the whole investigation of the kidnapping and murder of Krzysztof Olewnik was a kind of tragedy,' explains Leszek Szymowski.

Three convicts committing suicide in monitored prison cells is an unprecedented development in such a case on a global scale. Since the Polish law enforcement cannot be trusted to resolve it properly, the Olewnik family is suggesting that on top of a parliamentary investigative commission, Poland should ask foreign investigators to help out. Scotland Yard is experienced in solving cases which the local law enforcement cannot handle, such as the murder of the former prime minister of Pakistan, says Leszek Szymowski: 'People from Scotland Yard wouldn't be mixed with and wouldn't be friends to the politicians and influential people who helped in the kidnapping and murder of Krzysztof Olewnik. It could only help to solve this case.'

Hopefully, proper steps will be taken in time, before all witnesses die out in mysterious circumstances, concludes Szymowski.