Polish military prosecutor shoots self at desk, survives

A military prosecutor said Tuesday that he tried to commit suicide during a news conference he had called because his work has been used as a reason supporting plans to close military prosecution offices in Poland.

Colonel Mikolaj Przybyl shot himself after cutting short a 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.

People watching coverage from a TVN24 camera that had been left rolling in the room could hear the gunshot being fired and see reporters and officials rushing to Przybyl, who underwent surgery for a facial wound later in the day.

On Tuesday, the military prosecutor said he had intended to kill himself but didn't aim the gun correctly in his haste.

"I wanted to commit suicide but I aimed wrong, the shot came too soon," Przybyl told PAP agency in a telephone interview from his hospital on Tuesday.

"The shot went through the cheek, not through the head because I was in a hurry," he said. "I was saved by a man who was adjusting the cables. I was afraid he would walk in."

The shooting exposed a long-simmering conflict between the country's civilian prosecutor general, Andrzej Seremet, and Poland's chief military prosecutor, Gen. Krzysztof Parulski. Seremet plans to bring military prosecutors under civilian authority, but has not publicly explained his reasoning.

"I could accept that they destroyed my car, loosened my wheels so I would kill myself. There was a million zloty ($300,000) bounty on my head. They killed my dog," Przybyl said.

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

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Krystyna Mackiewicz, the director of Heliodor Swiecicki Hospital, said Tuesday that Przybyl could be discharged in two days.

Turf warSome local media have criticized 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. The disaster remains an emotional issue for many Poles and for relations with Russia.

Przybyl's dramatic act has also shone a spotlight on a turf war between Poland's military and civilian prosecution services, triggering a public spat between their top officials over plans to merge the two.

President Bronislaw Komorowski, who had expressed concern over the shooting, met the chief prosecutor on Tuesday and will also speak to his military counterpart. Komorowski spoke to the justice and defense ministers about the issue on Monday.

Asked by another reporter on Tuesday how he felt, Przybyl said: "As if I had been shot."