Court remands 66-year-old accused of plotting attack on Prime Minister Donald Tusk
A Warsaw court ordered two months of pretrial detention for a 66-year-old man charged with nine offences. Searching his flat, officers found around a dozen improvised explosive devices.
Tip and arrest
On Sunday, 11 October, the Ministry of Interior and Administration said police had received information about a possible attack on Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Officials from the police, the State Protection Service and the Internal Security Agency (ABW) met at the ABW's Counter-Terrorism Centre. In the afternoon, the authorities reported that a 66-year-old man, Krzysztof N., had been detained. State Protection Service officers, working together with police, then searched his flat.
- Ministry reports tip about possible attack on Tusk and Kosiniak-Kamysz; 66-year-old detained that afternoon
- Suspect charged with nine offences at the Warsaw prosecutor's office
- Warsaw-Mokotów District Court orders two months of pretrial detention
Nine charges
On Tuesday, 13 October, Krzysztof N. was charged at the Warsaw district prosecutor's office with nine offences. The gravest is planning to overthrow state authorities by force, which carries a sentence of 2 to 15 years in prison. The remaining counts concern online content that, according to prosecutors, promoted seizing power by force in Poland, called for violence, promoted an aggressive war including in Ukraine, and urged crimes motivated by national, ethnic, racial or political grounds. According to RMF24, some of this material was removed from the internet shortly after his detention.
Explosives and weapons
The search turned up around a dozen improvised explosive devices. Prosecutor Piotr Antoni Skiba, spokesman for the Warsaw district prosecutor's office, gave a preliminary assessment on Tuesday:
The preliminary opinion is that these are improvised materials, explosive devices similar to fragmentation grenades.
He added that the finding must still be verified through a procedural experiment. Officers also seized objects resembling weapons, provisionally classed as alarm weapons or pneumatic weapons, along with a list of people who had been in contact with the suspect and computer equipment whose contents were sent for analysis. Skiba noted that one of the devices contained metal balls, which increased the potential danger.
Alleged group and inquiry
According to the detained man, as Skiba relayed it, a radical group was supposed to have three branches, with a fourth still being formed. Prosecutors said nothing so far points to foreign services inspiring the group, although that line of inquiry is still being examined. At his hearing, Krzysztof N. did not admit guilt and refused to give evidence, citing physical and mental illnesses and a lack of understanding of the charges, according to RMF24. He said he might give an explanation after consulting a lawyer.
Court decision
On Wednesday, 14 October, the Warsaw-Mokotów District Court accepted the prosecution's motion and imposed two months of pretrial detention. Prosecutors had cited the developing nature of the case, the severe penalty he faces, the risk of tampering with evidence, and the risk of a serious offence against life and health, a threat which, prosecutors said, the suspect himself had pointed to. Skiba said the hearing included two breaks. Prosecutors will provide fuller information on Thursday, 15 October.