Katyń trial torpedoes Polish-Russian commemoration celebrations

The conservative daily Rzeczpospolita reports that Russia has refused to rehabilitate the Polish victims of the Katyń massacre during the Katyń trial at the European Court of Human Rights. The trial is meant to clear up the murder of thousands of Polish officers by the Soviet secret service in 1940. The paper therefore questions the Polish-Russian commemorative ceremony for the 70th anniversary of this event: "The planned meeting between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the graves in Katyń has been heralded as ground breaking. At the same time we are hearing that the powers that be in Russia ... reacted arrogantly to the Strasbourg court's summons . Not only do they refuse to rehabilitate the murder victims, they have also alleged it's not at all sure they were murdered in the first place. ... This curious answer raises the question: just what significance does Putin's gesture really have?"

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