Poland charges 46-year-old man with inciting murder of PM Donald Tusk
Police detained the 46-year-old in Oborniki on Monday, 12 October, and prosecutors charged him on Tuesday, 13 October, with inciting murder and insulting senior officials, days after a separate arrest over a plot against Tusk.
Second suspect charged in Oborniki
Polish police detained a 46-year-old man in Oborniki, a town in Wielkopolskie province in western Poland, on Monday, 12 October. Government spokesperson Adam Szłapka announced the arrest on X on Tuesday, 13 October, saying the man was suspected of instigating the murder of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and other senior officials. Local prosecutor Katarzyna Sill-Szułczyńska told RMF FM that prosecutors charged him on Tuesday with inciting murder and with insulting Tusk, parliament speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty and an unnamed journalist at the public broadcaster TVP Info. According to the authorities, the suspect posted content on Facebook and TikTok between 3 August and 7 October that called for killings of politicians. He has been charged, not convicted, and the case is at the investigation stage.
Sunday detention in Lower Silesia
On Sunday, 11 October, police detained a man aged around 60 in Lower Silesia, in southern Poland, on suspicion of threatening to assassinate Tusk and Kosiniak-Kamysz. Tusk announced that arrest himself and thanked the police for their action. Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for the Coordinator of Special Services, told local media that the suspect is a Polish citizen and that there was a high probability the threats could be carried out. Karolina Gałecka, spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, said the plan came to light when the State Protection Service, which is responsible for the safety of ministers, forwarded an email containing information about a possible attack to the police. The suspect was due to be questioned by prosecutors in Warsaw on Tuesday, 13 October.
- Police detain a man aged around 60 in Lower Silesia on suspicion of threatening to assassinate Tusk and Kosiniak-Kamysz
- Police detain a 46-year-old man in Oborniki
- Prosecutors charge the 46-year-old with inciting murder and insulting officials; government announces the arrest
Security response and open questions
After law enforcement received information about a possible assassination of the top politicians, the Internal Security Agency (ABW), the police and the State Protection Service gathered for an emergency meeting. A spokesperson for the security services said the threats could turn into a real attack, and officials described the threat as extremely serious. Government and media reports place the second arrest within three days of the first, which makes it the second such detention in that short period. One Greek report says the charges against the 46-year-old also cover insulting Kosiniak-Kamysz, former president Lech Wałęsa and Krzysztof Pasik, a lawmaker in Tusk's governing coalition. As of these reports, authorities had not established a link between the two cases or attributed a motive to either man.
