Polish opposition leader Jarosław Kaczyński has been summoned as a witness by prosecutors investigating the death of his aide earlier this month, an event that exacerbated tensions between the country’s main political parties.
Barbara Skrzypek – who had worked with Kaczyński for over 30 years – died on March 15, three days after being questioned at the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office.
Kaczyński’s right-wing opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party has claimed there is a link between Skrzypek’s questioning and her death, suggesting that the procedure put her under unnecessary stress.
PiS supporters have portrayed Skrzypek as a political martyr, claiming her death comes amid a crackdown on the party by the government.
Supporters of the government, meanwhile, say that PiS’s eight years in power until 2023 were marked by cronyism, corruption and violations of the rule of law that need to be investigated.
Skrzypek had been called in as a witness in a probe concerning a project to build two skyscrapers by a company linked to Kaczyński.
Ewa Wrzosek, the prosecutor who led the questioning of 66-year-old Skrzypek days before her death, was also summoned as a witness on Friday. So too were Skrzypek’s son and husband.
All of the people summoned had been in contact with Skrzypek in the period leading up to her death, according to prosecutor Norbert Woliński, a spokesperson for a district prosecutor’s office that is conducting the probe into the death.
Woliński added that questioning would begin in early April.
Prosecutors have said that Skrzypek was questioned in a “friendly atmosphere,” adding that neither she nor her legal representative had raised any objections.
The preliminary results of an autopsy ordered by the National Prosecutor’s Office revealed last week that Skrzypek died of a massive heart attack.
Przemysław Nowak, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, said the autopsy was a standard procedure, as a physician had not been able to determine the cause of Skrzypek’s death at the time of her passing.
Wrzosek, meanwhile, was placed under protection after being subject to threats for her role in questioning Skrzypek.
