Kaczynski twin wants original air-crash black boxes

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin of late Polish president Lech Kaczynski, said Tuesday he wanted Russia to hand over the original black boxes from the April 10 air crash in which his brother died.

Russia on Monday gave Poland complete recordings of the black boxes recovered from the wreckage of the presidential jet in which president Kaczynski and all 95 others passengers died when it went down in heavy fog outside the western Russian city of Smolensk.

“I expect all the original (investigation) materials, including the black boxes, to be handed over to Poland,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the conservative parliamentary opposition chief now running for president told reporters in Warsaw Tuesday.

“I maintain my opinion that Poland should be in charge of the investigation” rather than Russia, he added.

A poll this week showed Kaczynski receiving 30 percent public support ahead of the June 20 presidential ballot with liberal rival, acting president Bronislaw Komorowski, enjoying around 50 percent backing making him the favourite in the race.

Members of Kaczynski’s opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party have already formally asked for Poland to take over the investigation from Russia, criticising alleged failings on the part of Moscow. Poland’s liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk has flatly rejected such accusations.

The black box recordings were handed over to Polish Interior Minister Jerzy Miller by Russian Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Titov and Tatyana Anodina, head of the inter-state air committee (MAK) which is investigating the crash.

With both sides emphasizing their mutual cooperation in the probe, the copy of the original black box recordings was made on Monday at the MAK’s in-house laboratory in the presence of both Russian and Polish officials.

The investigation has so far revealed that passengers were heard in the cockpit of the plane shortly before it crashed, including Andrzej Blasik, commander-in-chief of the Polish air force.

There had been media speculation that a high-ranking member of the Polish delegation could have ordered the pilots to land in foul weather, although until now this had been dismissed by investigators on both sides.

Almost seven weeks after the accident the investigators have still not offered concrete conclusions about its cause, although they said an act of terror, technical failure or an explosion have all been ruled out.