As of 23 July, the Prosecutor General’s Guidelines on conducting preparatory proceedings in connection with incidents involving loss of life, serious bodily harm or degrading treatment, particularly during actions by public officials, have been in force. Among those behind this breakthrough is a Bolesławiec resident, Dr Wojciech Kasprzyk, an attorney-at-law and founder of the Igor Stachowiak Foundation.

For years, Kasprzyk had called for systemic changes and reliable investigations in cases involving deaths or serious injuries during police interventions. The tragic death of Igor Stachowiak at a police station in Wrocław was one of the impulses that prompted him to act. The IS Foundation, of which he is the founder, has been fighting for the rights of victims and their families for years.

“Above all, appointing expert witnesses was not standard practice; prosecutors often believed they were knowledgeable about means of direct coercion. This led to glaring errors, which were later confirmed by the courts,” says Dr Kasprzyk.

The new guidelines introduce a number of changes advocated by the Bolesławiec resident:

  • the mandatory presence of a prosecutor during the examination of a body – previously, police officers often acted independently, without supervision;
  • recording autopsies – this is now to become standard practice; previously, it was an exception;
  • securing all recordings – from city cameras, body cameras and surveillance systems;
  • appointing experts in intervention techniques and the rules governing the use of weapons;
  • handling cases by experienced prosecutors, rather than trainee prosecutors;
  • psychological support for the families of the deceased, rather than, as before, only for officers;
  • securing all means of direct coercion that were used, from handcuffs to Tasers.

The guidelines also require prosecutors to immediately inform higher-level units of suspected violations, transfer cases to higher-level units and ensure full coordination between prosecution offices.

For Dr Kasprzyk, this is a personal success, but, as he emphasizes, above all it is “a step towards justice and normality, in which it is the victims, not the perpetrators, who have a voice and the protection of the state.”

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