Komorowski appoints new military head

3rd February 2012

President Bronislaw Komorowski has appointed a new head of the military prosecutor’s office following a bruising conflict between the civil and military chief prosecutors.

The president formally approved the appointment of Colonel Jerzy Artymiak, who replaces General Krzysztof Parulski at the helm of the prosecutor’s office.

Gen. Parulski was shown the door by the civilian prosecutor general, and his immediate superior, Andrzej Seremet for insubordination. The general had criticised plans to merge the civilian and military prosecutor’s offices, which could result in the closure of military offices and their cases brought under civilian control.

Gen. Parulski said the civilian branch had acted “unethically” during an investigation into whether its military equivalent had used illegal phone taps and hacking. Mr Seremet had condemned the general’s comments as “unacceptable”, adding that they undermined his office.

The dispute between the two offices came to public attention last month when military prosecutor Colonel Mikolaj Przybyl shot himself in the head during a break in a press conference. The colonel made a passionate defence of his office before asking journalists to leave. He then put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger but survived with only facial injuries.

PM Donald Tusk has supported the civilian office in the dispute, saying that having two offices was unnecessary given that the Polish armed forces had reduced in size over the past few years.

The change of command at the military prosecutor’s office appears, however, to have gone against the wishes of the president. Joanna Trzaska-Wieczorek, spokeswoman for the president’s office, said the president “had always stressed the need for an amicable solution to the dispute”, although given Gen. Parulski’s insubordination, she added, this had become very difficult to achieve.

President Komorowski seems to have also heeded the advice of Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak who favoured Gen. Parulski’s removal.

Whatever the reason behind his appointment, Col. Artymiak has a difficult job ahead of him. Irrespective of merger plans or office closures, the military prosecutor’s office is still involved in a number of significant cases. Before shooting himself, Col. Przybyl said that he was involved in a case that went to the top of the defence establishment and involved not only millions of zloty but also the lives of Polish servicemen and women.

He alleged that the merger plans might also be linked to a desire to shut down this investigation, and that he had received death threats. The pressure from this, he explained, had also contributed to his desire to take his own life.