WARSAW, Poland — The bodies of former Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife have been removed from their tomb in Krakow, the first of more than 80 exhumations planned on prominent Poles killed in a plane crash in Russia in 2010.
The exhumations that began Monday are part of a new investigation into the crash ordered by Poland’s ruling party, Law and Justice, which is led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the late president’s twin brother. Post-mortems will be carried out to determine the cause of the deaths and of the crash, identify all the remains and check for explosives, since some of Kaczynski’s followers believe that a blast downed the aircraft, killing all 96 aboard.
Kaczynski has cast doubt on earlier investigations which concluded that the crash was an accident caused primarily by pilot error on approach to landing in dense fog. Kaczynski has for years encouraged a conspiracy theory suggesting Russia carried out an assassination with the support, or at least the consent, of the Polish prime minister at the time — Donald Tusk, now the president of the European Council.
Kaczynski wants to take Tusk to court and is seeking evidence against him.
According to the PAP news agency, the bodies of Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria Kaczynska, were removed from their tomb at the Wawel Cathedral in Krakow, the resting place of many of Poland’s kings. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the presidential couple’s daughter, Marta Kaczynska, and experts were seen arriving at the site to attend the exhumation. Priests were to say prayers during the procedure.
