The Warsaw Regional Prosecutor’s Office has reopened a suspended investigation into the circumstances of the transfer of a grenade launcher that exploded at the General Headquarters of the Police. It did so after receiving part of the materials from Ukraine.
What prosecutors established
Spokesman for the Warsaw Regional Prosecutor’s Office, prosecutor Mateusz Martyniuk, said the proceedings had been suspended pending the execution of a request for legal assistance sent to the Ukrainian side. „Ukrainians have partially executed our request,” the spokesman said. The materials reached the prosecutor’s office, which resumed the investigation.
The deadline for the investigation is approaching, so the prosecutor’s office has asked the National Prosecutor’s Office (PK) to extend it for the coming months. According to the spokesman, investigators are waiting for this decision because further procedural steps are planned.
Two parallel proceedings
The reopened investigation concerns the circumstances in which the grenade launcher reached the then Police Commander-in-Chief, General Jarosław Szymczyk. In this proceeding he has the status of an injured party. Within the legal assistance framework, the prosecutor’s office requested, among other things, the questioning of persons who may know how the police delegation received the gift of grenade launchers.
A separate case concerns the explosion itself. Szymczyk is the defendant in it. In September 2024 he was charged with two counts: illegal possession of a weapon and negligently causing an event that threatened the life and health of many people. In January 2025 the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw referred the indictment to court. Szymczyk has challenged the way this proceeding was conducted, claiming he was not given the opportunity to provide explanations. The presumption of innocence applies, meaning he is considered innocent until a final court verdict is issued.
Explosion in the office
The incident occurred on 14 December 2022 at the Police General Headquarters on Puławska Street in Warsaw. Szymczyk received the grenade launcher, probably an RGW-90 type, during a visit to Ukraine. The prosecutor’s office established that the weapon was functional, and at the time of the explosion the general was alone in his office. Rooms on several floors of the building were damaged.
