Colonel Mikolaj Przybyl shortly before he shot himself in the head, but lived: photo - PAP/Marek Zakrzewski.
The meeting at the Presidential Palace will be to discuss “structural conflict” between the civilian and military branches of the prosecution service.
Lawyer Colonel Mikolaj Przybyl shot himself in the head during a break in a press conference given on Monday at the office of the Military Prosecutor's in Poznan, western Poland.
“The patient is feeling well,” Krzysztof Osmolaa, spokesman at the Poznan Clinical Hospital where the lawyer was rushed to isaid after he had undergone surgery for a bullet wound to the head.
The wound will need reconstruction surgery to the jaw and cheek.
Colonel Przybyl had a firearm licence for personal defence and it has been revealed that he had received death threats on several occasions.
At present, it remains unclear whether Colonel Przybyl had indeed intended to kill himself with the shot after he cleared the conference hall of journalists so he could “ventilate it”. As reporters waited outside the room they heard a shot.
Questions have been raised as to why Przybyl, a lawyer, was carrying a gun.
However, Chief Military Prosecutor Krzysztof Parulski said yesterday that “conducting such investigations specifically related to organised [crime] groups, can lead to all manner of actions from criminal groups.”
Leaks
Colonel Przybyl gave the press conference in response to articles published in the media in December claiming that the Military Prosecutor's Office in Poznan had attempted to obtain information illegally during the investigation into the April 2010 Smolensk Air Disaster.
96 people died in the crash, including President Lech Kaczynski and his entire delegation.
Przybyl's office had been accused of pressuring mobile telephone operators to pass on data – including text messages - from journalists' phones.
Journalists replied that prosecutors need a court order to force them to reveal sources.
During the press conference, Colonel Przybyl said that leaks had emerged in the press regarding the investigation, and that his office's actions were designed to discover the source of the leaks.
He said that the leaks had caused delays in Polish-Russian cooperation in the investigation into the Smolensk crash.
However, Przybyl insisted that he and his colleagues had not broken the law.
Poland's Attorney General Andrzej Seremet had been due to make a statement on the matter on Monday afternoon. There had been inconclusive talk of repealing the autonomous status of the Military Prosecutor's Office.
Yesterday, having been informed of the shooting, Seremet said that some of the actions that the Military Prosecutor's Office had taken were indeed illegal.
Meanwhile, Chief Military Prosecutor Krzysztof Parulski said the attorney general should not make public statements about the Military prosecution.
During yesterday's statement, Przybyl warned of the dangers of disbanding the Military Prosecutor's office, and touted the institution's successes in confronting corruption in the armed forces, including the illegal trade of weapons.
At present the Military Prosecutor's Office in Poznan is engaged in three major cases relating to fraud and extortion of money from the army, The office will not disclose details of the cases. (nh/pg)
Source: IAR, PAP
This page was updated at 13.14 CET