Six detained in Poland over posts praising Kraków attack, CBZC says

Six detentions after the Kraków attack

The Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime (CBZC) has detained six people since Saturday, 7 November, over online posts that glorified the attack in Kraków and could inspire imitators. The group is aged 15 to 36 and was held in several regions of Poland. Five are Polish citizens and one is a Ukrainian citizen. All six admitted to publishing false information, and one of them told officers the post was made as a joke. Earlier on Monday, 9 November, ministry spokeswoman Karolina Gałecka had reported five detentions, and the later CBZC count rose to six. Gałecka told reporters that the CBZC and police monitor the internet constantly, and that this monitoring is not carried out only because of the Kraków tragedy.

Polish citizens5

Ukrainian citizens1

Polish citizens

5 people

Ukrainian citizens

1 people

Data from the article text

Speaking to TVP Info, Gałecka said the detained people had posts that raised potential danger and that they could have copied the actions of Michał O.

“They were people whose posts raised potential danger. They were detained because in some way they could have been copycats of Michał O.'s actions.”

One Warsaw resident charged

Prosecutors in Warsaw say one of the six, Emil W., a Warsaw resident, has been charged. According to the articles, during the night from Saturday to Sunday he posted a comment under a live Kanał Zero broadcast about the Kraków attack, warning of an action in Warsaw the next day and telling people to watch the streets. Piotr Antoni Skiba, spokesman for the Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office, said investigators concluded the comment could have created a belief that many people's lives and health were under threat, and that it led police to act. The suspect admitted he wrote the comment and said he had not announced an attack. The rest of his explanation is not included in the source.

Motive still unclear

Michał O. is the suspect in the attack in Kraków on Saturday, 7 November. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said on 7 November that everything indicated the attacker had very radical views and was fascinated by far-right ideologies. On 8 November he called this one of the first hypotheses, which police were verifying. Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek said on 8 November it was too early to speak about the motive. On 9 November prosecutor Eryk Stasielak of the National Prosecutor's Office told PAP that investigators were still examining the motive, and government spokesman Adam Szłapka said such assessments should be withheld until the services had full information. The motive has therefore not been established.

Warnings against imitators

The CBZC said the posts suggested that someone's life or health was at risk. It warned that messages designed to cause chaos, panic and disinformation are circulating online, and said authors use tragedies to gain attention on social media. Its statement added a warning that officers respond immediately to every such situation.

“The response of the services is immediate to every such situation.”

The bureau also said online anonymity is only apparent and that authors of such posts face serious legal consequences. Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for the minister coordinating special services, wrote on X that officers had identified and detained the six people, all aged between 15 and 36.