MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. The Polish government will not be filing a lawsuit against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the April 2010 crash of the Polish presidential Tu-154M airliner near Smolensk, given the low chances of winning such litigation, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said.
"I plan to unilaterally withdraw the letter of intent with [the law firm] Emmerson Consulting, that was signed on the initiative of Antoni Macierewicz, regarding the [preparation of a] lawsuit in the ECHR on the basis of the so-called 'Report on the crash near Smolensk,'" Sikorski posted on the X social network. He clarified that the lawsuit would not have even a "theoretical chance of success" and the "unjustified" legal expenses would become an additional burden for Polish taxpayers.
In October 2023, the Polish Foreign Ministry and British law firm Emmerson Consulting signed a letter of intent to prepare a lawsuit to be filed with the ECHR against Russia over the plane crash near Smolensk.
At the end of last year, however, the Polish Defense Ministry announced its decision to shut down the ministerial subcommittee that had been charged with re-examining the case of the Smolensk air crash. Plans call for establishing a special group shortly to scrutinize all of the now-defunct body’s activities.
Smolensk crash
The Polish air force Tu-154M presidential airliner crashed on the morning of April 10, 2010, near the Russian city of Smolensk in dense fog. The crash resulted in the deaths of all 96 people on board, including then-Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria. The high-ranking Polish delegation was on a flight to Smolensk, intending to travel further by car to the nearby village of Katyn to hold memorial ceremonies at a Polish military cemetery. Despite poor visibility conditions and a lack of ground contact, the pilots decided to attempt to land the aircraft. However, the plane missed the runway by a small distance, collided with trees and then struck the ground.
Experts from the Interstate Aviation Committee concluded that the accident occurred due to the actions of the crew, who made an incorrect decision to land during poor weather conditions due to intense psychological pressure by the high-ranking passengers.
In addition to attempting to descend at an unacceptable altitude, the report of the Polish governmental commission listed cockpit failures and the fact that the pilot neglected the signals of the TAWS early warning system among the causes of the crash. According to the Polish experts, the accident was caused by a descent below the required altitude at an excessive speed in poor weather conditions, as well as by a delayed start of the missed approach procedure.
Macierewicz commission
In October 2015, the Law and Justice (PiS) party took power in Warsaw. The new PiS-led government claimed that the investigation into the details of the tragedy by the previous Polish leadership had been flawed. In early March 2016, the work of the government commission was resumed by decision of then-Polish Defense Minster Antoni Macierewicz, even though the commission had already closed the case and reported on its work in 2011.
In April 2019, Macierewicz, who headed the new commission, reported that a laboratory affiliated with the UK Ministry of Defense had allegedly discovered particles of explosives on the Tu-154 fragments. Russian Investigative Committee Spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko refuted the British experts' allegations.