Cassation case in General Papała murder heard by Supreme Court in December
The Supreme Court will hear on 3 December the Prosecutor General's cassation appeal against the acquittal of Igor M., known as Patyk, in the case of the 1998 murder of former Police Commissioner General Marek Papała.
Cassation hearing scheduled
The Supreme Court will hear a cassation appeal by the Prosecutor General's Office against the verdict acquitting Igor M., known as Patyk, of charges in connection with the 1998 murder of former Police Commissioner General Marek Papała in early December — according to Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, citing a statement from the Supreme Court's press office. The hearing has been scheduled for 3 December in the Criminal Chamber. The presiding judge of the panel will be Justice Jarosław Matras, sitting with Justices Waldemar Płóciennik and Małgorzata Wąsek-Wiaderek.
The cassation appeal was filed by the National Prosecutor's Office in Łódź. Prosecutor Mariusz Jaworski, who has been prosecuting the case for years, challenged the manner in which the appellate court evaluated the prosecution's charges. In a submission to the Supreme Court, it was indicated that the appellate court "failed to conduct a comprehensive assessment and thorough analysis of a number of charges" and presented its position in a manner that was "vague".
Consideration of the cassation appeal does not automatically mean a retrial or a change to the legally binding judgment. The Supreme Court will assess only the merit of the charges raised in this extraordinary remedy.
History of the murder and investigation
Marek Papała headed the Polish Police from January 1997 to January 1998. He was shot dead on 25 June 1998 on Rzymowskiego Street in Warsaw — in a parked car in front of his apartment building. The case remains one of the most high-profile unsolved crimes in the history of the Third Republic.
The investigation lasted many years. It was initially conducted by the Appellate Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw and was transferred to the Prosecutor's Office in Łódź in 2009. Investigators examined dozens of versions of events and questioned hundreds of witnesses.
The Warsaw prosecutor's office initially charged Ryszard Bogucki and Andrzej Z., known as Słowik. The trial before the District Court in Warsaw lasted from February 2010 to July 2013 and ended with the acquittal of both defendants.
Version of the Łódź prosecutor's office
The Łódź prosecutor's office adopted a different version in 2012 — that the murder was the result of an armed robbery. According to their findings, several people allegedly attempted to steal the general's car, and Igor M. allegedly fired the fatal shot. The first-instance court in October 2020, however, acquitted Igor M., finding this version not proven.
In its judgment, the court assessed that the hypothesis of an accidental trigger squeeze was "unlikely, and therefore not credible".
Role of witness and appeal
In the appellate proceedings, the credibility of a key witness — Robert P., a former member of a criminal group to which Igor M. allegedly belonged — played a crucial role. The Court of Appeal in Warsaw in November 2023 upheld the acquittal, finding that "this witness modifies his testimony with relative ease".
Judge Dorota Tyrała indicated that the witness's testimony did not constitute sufficient evidence to establish the defendant's guilt. "In this case there are serious doubts and these doubts cannot lead to a verdict other than acquittal" — she stated.
The appellate court, however, overturned part of its rulings on other charges related to car thefts and referred them for reconsideration.
Position of the defence and defendant
Igor M. has never admitted to the murder. In a statement submitted to the appellate court, he wrote: "I have been cast in the role of General Papała's murderer. I do not know the person who committed this murder. I request acquittal".
His defence counsel, lawyer Grzegorz Cichewicz, emphasised that the verdicts confirm the defence's position — that Igor M. and the other defendants had no connection to the general's murder.
Source: Dziennik Gazeta Prawna