Monastery attack in Poland: prosecutors reclassify charges against Ukrainian suspect
Prosecutors in Przemyśl, Poland, have replaced a single charge with five separate ones against Igor M., a 31-year-old Ukrainian suspected of attacking a Benedictine convent in Jarosław. He admitted the acts but declined to give explanations.
The District Prosecutor's Office in Przemyśl, in south-eastern Poland, has changed the classification of charges against Igor M., a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen suspected of attacking a Benedictine convent in the town of Jarosław. He was previously charged with a single act covering murder and attempted murder of four people; he now faces five separate counts. The report comes from the Ukrainian outlet Evropeiska Pravda, citing the Polish portal RMF24.
Prosecutor Małgorzata Taciuch-Kurasiewicz, the office's spokesperson, said the change is technical and legal in nature. Previously the offences were treated as one act, but the prosecutor concluded that the man acted with repeated intent and committed five separate crimes. Each count concerns a different victim. For the crimes against life he faces a combined penalty of life imprisonment.
Course of the investigation
After the amended charges were presented, the man admitted committing the acts but refused to give explanations or answer questions. According to the prosecutor, he only said he deeply regretted what he had done. He remains in custody, held in a psychiatric hospital with an enhanced security regime because of his health.
Experts found acute polymorphic psychotic disorders. Opinions issued in September and early October indicated that no logical contact could be established with him, which ruled out his participation in court procedures. A later opinion allowed him to be questioned and charged, but it does not give a final assessment of his mental competence at the time of the attack; experts are to assess that at a later stage.
Prosecutors have asked Ukrainian authorities for medical records, including any possible psychiatric treatment, and want to question his mother and learn whether he has a criminal record in Ukraine. He had no convictions in Poland, and blood tests showed no alcohol or psychoactive substances.
Circumstances of the attack
The attack took place on the morning of 24 September on the grounds of the Jarosław Abbey on Benedyktyńska Street. The man stabbed four men and one woman; a priest died. Prosecutors say he had entered Poland from Germany and headed for the Korczowa border crossing but did not cross the border. He entered the monastery grounds and then went into the kitchen areas.
