https://www2.polskieradio.pl/eo/dokument.aspx?iid=149121

Men accused of Stanczak Taliban murder found not guilty

11.02.2011
Piotr Stanczak before his death at hands of Taliban
Two Pakistanis accused of the gruesome beheading of Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak in 2009 walked out of court free men, Thursday, after being found not guilty by a judge in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Poland’s Foreign Ministry says prosecutors will appeal the verdict.

The court acquitted Abdul Aziz Shah, a former member of parliament, and Attaullah Khan of kidnapping Stanczak in September 2008 and his beheading in February 2009.

“The Pakistani prosecutors will appeal the verdict,” confirmed Foreign Ministry spokesman Marcin Bosacki. “The two defendants were acquitted due to lack of evidence,” he added.

The Foreign Ministry says that it respects the independence of the judiciary in Pakistan but is disappointed by the not guilty verdicts.

Piotr Stanczak was kidnapped in September 2008 while working as a geologist for a Polish firm in Attock in the dangerous north-west frontier region of Pakistan. The Taliban said they killed the Pole after Pakistani authorities refused to trade the life of Stanczak for prisoners.

Before the execution, the Taliban released a video of Stanczak pleading with the Polish government to withdraw troops from Afghanistan before being beheaded.

Stanczak was posthumously awarded one of Poland’s highest honours, the Order of Polonia Restituta, by President Bronislaw Komorowski in September last year.

Pakistani police arrested former MP Abdul Aziz Shah after a tip off that he had ordered the kidnapping and murder of the Pole. (pg)