Polish prosecutor shot himself in head to defend his honour

A POLISH military prosecutor who survived after shooting himself in the head at a news conference has said he tried to kill himself to protect the honour of his profession.

Colonel Mikolaj Przybyl shot himself after cutting short the news conference on Monday at which he railed against media attacks on military prosecutors and their probe into leaks of an investigation into the plane crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski in 2010.

Speaking from his hospital bed yesterday, Col Przybyl said he had faced threats and intimidation and was finally driven to try to take his own life when subjected to threats.

“I could accept that they destroyed my car, loosened my wheels so I would kill myself. There was a million zloty [£194,000] bounty on my head. They killed my dog,” he said.

“I could not deal with the attacks related with accusations of illegal actions.”

He survived because he was interrupted by one of the journalists he had ushered out of his office only moments earlier, he said. “I wanted to commit suicide, but I aimed badly because somebody tried to enter the room.” He also claimed he stood at a window to prevent a ricochet hurting anyone else.

Local media have criticised the military prosecutors’ attempts to seek phone records of journalists reporting on their probe of the Smolensk plane crash that killed Kaczynski and 95 others.