Gen. Pytel detained at Pyrzowice airport – exit ban not lifted
Former SKW chief Gen. Piotr Pytel was unable to fly to Turkey – the Border Guard found an active ban on leaving the country linked to a discontinued investigation.
Former SKW chief blocked at border in Pyrzowice
According to polsatnews.pl, the Border Guard prevented General Piotr Pytel – the former head of the Military Counterintelligence Service – from leaving Poland at Pyrzowice airport. The general presented himself for border control prior to his planned flight to Turkey, when officers during routine data verification encountered an entry in the system concerning an active ban on leaving the country.
Lieutenant Szymon Mościcki, spokesman for the Silesian Division of the Border Guard, confirmed that the entry originated from the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, Military Affairs Department. Following the discovery of the entry, officers accompanied Pytel to the so-called second line of control and checked available databases. The ban proved to be active.
"We, as the Border Guard, respect the law; we do not create it," Mościcki stated.
General was not formally detained
After completing proceedings, Gen. Pytel left the Border Guard service facilities and proceeded to the public area of the terminal. The spokesman emphasised that at no point was the general formally detained – the incident should be understood as prevention from boarding the aircraft.
Mościcki assessed that a failure on the prosecutor's side was more probable than a system error.
"This entry is old and has not been lifted. It is therefore binding for us," the spokesman explained.
He indicated verification of any potential error as the prosecutor's responsibility.
Investigation discontinued in 2024
The ban on leaving the country for Pytel may be connected to an investigation concerning former heads of the Military Counterintelligence Service. In April 2024, the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw discontinued proceedings against Gen. Janusz Nosko, Gen. Piotr Pytel and Colonel Krzysztof Duszy.
The investigation concerned accusations of abuse of authority by public officials in connection with establishing cooperation with a foreign state's service without the prime minister's consent – as required by the law on SKW and SWW. Charges were brought against them in 2016. In a decision of 22 April 2024, prosecutor Colonel Janusz Ochocki indicated an absence of grounds for further conduct of the case. Proceedings were discontinued due to lack of sufficient data to justify suspicion of committing an offence and absence of features of a prohibited act.
Earlier detention and case context
In December 2017, Pytel was detained and transported from Kraków to Warsaw, where he heard modified charges at the prosecutor's office – this time concerning contacts with the Russian Federal Security Service. In October 2018, the District Court for Warsaw-Śródmieście found that detention for the purpose of bringing him to the prosecutor's office to be unjustified.
The origins of the case reach back to 2010. According to media reports from that period, the matter concerned, among other things, an agreement concluded by SKW with Russian special services in connection with the withdrawal of the Polish military contingent from Afghanistan.
TVN24 first reported on the airport incident.
Source: Google News PL