POZNAN, Poland — A Polish military prosecutor who shot himself minutes after ordering journalists out of a news conference said Tuesday that he made the suicide attempt in a bid to expose what he called corruption in defense procurement contracts.
Col. Mikolaj Przybyl was defending his office during Monday’s news conference in Poznan, western Poland, after it was accused of leaking information about the investigation into the 2010 plane crash that killed president Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, when he attempted to kill himself.
“My act was influenced by the cases I am investigating: one of them is the most serious involving financial issues in the Polish military,” Przybyl told Polish news agency PAP as he recovered from a gunshot wound in the hospital. “I was defending people, whom I know and who do excellent work. I wanted the prosecutor’s office to survive.”
Przybyl also claimed there was a contract out to kill him worth a million zloty ($285,000), that his home and car were targeted by unknown assailants and that his dog was killed during the investigation, PAP reported.
He said that although he could come to terms with these alleged incidents, he could not be reconciled with the “unjust attack accusing us of improper or unlawful activities.”
Przybyl — who was described as being “upset” during the news briefing — asked reporters to leave and was then seen pacing around behind a wooden desk while they exited the room.
With the camera still rolling, the prosecutor then walked across the room toward the window, and moments later a gunshot was heard.
He was taken to the hospital, where he underwent an hour-long surgery to treat his gunshot wound. He is due to be discharged in the next two days.
Military police are investigating what happened.