From Jay Veith
BBC International Reports (Former Soviet Union)
March 11, 2005
Russia claims 1,803 died in Katyn massacre, refuses to hand over secret files
Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS
Moscow, 11 March: Russia's chief military procuracy is ready to make files of the investigation into the so-called Katyn case concerning the death of approximately 2,000 Polish citizens between 1938 and 1949 available to the Polish side.
Chief Military Prosecutor Aleksandr Savenkov said today that the investigation into this criminal case had been completed on 21 September last year. The Polish side was notified of this on the same day. "We are absolutely open and are ready to give the Polish side the files which are not classified as state secrets. We are now in consultations with the Polish side concerning familiarization with the files of this criminal case," Savenkov noted.
He said the case consists of 183 volumes, of which 116 are classified as state secrets, with 67 volumes containing open files. "More than 900 witnesses testified in this case and various tests were carried out, including the study of more than 1,000 items and the exhumation of more than 800 bodies," Savenkov said.
"It has been established with absolute precision that camps on the territory of the RSFSR [Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the biggest republic in the former USSR] and Ukraine contained 14,542 Polish citizens, including officers and privates, during these years," the chief military prosecutor stated.
"Of these, as the investigation has determined, 1,803 died. It proved possible to identify 22 bodies out of this number."
"The suggestion of genocide of the Polish nation in 1938-1940 failed to be confirmed during the investigation. We carefully investigated this issue but no evidence supporting this theory has been found," Savenkov said. At the same time, he said, "those guilty of these tragic events have been established. They are the former high-ranking officials of the former USSR." Their surnames, however, are in the sealed files of the case, classified as a state secret. Savenkov did not rule out the possibility that they could be named with the passage of time. Criminal proceedings against them were discontinued in connection with their death.
"This is a unique case, started 50 years after these tragic events. The investigation went on for more than 15 years. The investigation was full and comprehensive, everything that could have been done was done," the prosecutor noted.
The first reports of mass graves of Polish servicemen in the Katyn forest near Smolensk emerged in 1943. According to some reports, the Polish prisoners of war were executed way back in the spring of 1940. An international commission of experts from Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Italy, Croatia, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Romania, Switzerland, Hungary, France and the Czech Republic, which worked in Katyn in April 1943 under the supervision of Hitler's Germany, concluded that the NKVD [People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs - secret police] bodies were guilty. However, in January 1944 a Soviet commission under Academician N. Burdenko accused the German side of the execution of the Poles.
Following the signing of the Soviet-Polish declaration on cooperation in the area of ideology, science and culture, a Soviet-Polish commission of historians was set up at the end of the 1980s to investigate this question. In April 1990 USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev handed over the lists of POWs to the Polish side. [ITAR-TASS at 0918 gmt on 9 March 2005 said these lists contained the names of 14,792 people].
AND
Itar-Tass
March 11, 2005
Prosecutors ready to pass to Poland non-classified Katyn documents
MOSCOW, March 11 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's Chief Military Prosecutor's Office is ready to pass to Poland part of the materials related to the investigation into the so-called Katyn case over the death of some 2,000 Poles between 1938 and 1949.
Chief military prosecutor Alexander Savenkov said Friday the investigation into this criminal case was finished on September 21, 2004, of which Poland was duly notified.
"We are absolutely open and are ready to supply non-classified materials to the Polish side. At present, we are coordinating with Poland the familiarization with case materials," Savenkov said.
The case comprises 183 volumes, including 116 classified volumes. Sixty-seven volumes are open. More than 900 witnesses were questioned in connection with the case, a number of experts examinations were carried out, and more than 800 bodies were exhumed, according to the prosecutor. It was established with absolute precision that 14,542 Polish citizens were kept in camps in Russia and Ukraine in those years, including officers and privates. Of those, 1,803 died. It was possible to identify the bodies of 22 of them, according to the prosecutor.
The version abut the genocide of the Polish people in 1938 -1940 was not proven in the course of the investigation. "We carefully examined this issue, but no proofs confirming this version were found," Savenkov said. However, prosecutors established the persons guilty of this tragedy - former high-placed Soviet officials.
"Their names are still a state secret," Savenkov said, but he did not rule out that they might be disclosed in the future. The criminal case against them was stopped because of their death. "It is a unique case which was opened 50 years after the tragic events. The investigation continued for more than 15 years. The investigation was full and comprehensive; everything which had to be done, has been done," the prosecutor said.
The first reports about mass graves of Polish servicemen in the Katyn forest near Smolensk appeared in 1943.
Some reports said Polish prisoners-of-war were executed by firing squads back in the spring of 1940.
An international commission worked in Katyn in April 1943. It comprised experts from Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Italy, Croatia, Holland, Slovakia, Romania, Switzerland, Hungary, France, and the Czech Republic, and worked under the Nazis' supervision. It concluded that the Russian secret police was behind the massacre. But in January 1944, a Soviet commission, led by Academician N.Burdenko accused Germany of shooting the Poles.
In the late 1980s, after the signing of a Russian-Polish declaration on cooperation in ideology, science and culture, a joint commission of historians was set up to investigate the issue. In April 1990, the President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, passed to Poland the lists of prisoners-of-war.