WARSAW, Poland — Forensic testing has proved that two more victims of the 2010 plane crash in Russia that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others were misidentified and buried in the wrong graves, Polish prosecutors said Wednesday.
The number of misidentified victims has now grown to six. Such errors are deepening Polish distrust of historic foe Russia, while also fueling Polish conspiracy theories about the cause of the disaster.
But a Polish official also has been blamed for misidentifying one of the victims, and even the families of victims of the crash have made mistakes in identifying their loved ones.
Capt. Marcin Maksjan, an official with the military prosecutors, said two bodies suspected of being in the wrong graves were exhumed from two locations in Warsaw last week. He said forensic testing confirmed the suspicions. A study of forensic medical documentation sent by Russia had raised suspicions that errors had been made.
Polish media have said they were two Roman Catholic priests, but authorities wouldn’t confirm their identities.
Since September, Polish authorities also have exhumed four other bodies and confirmed they were mixed up. In one case, the Solidarity hero Anna Walentynowicz was found to have been confused with another female victim.
Soon after that, Poland’s last president-in-exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski, was exhumed and reburied after being found to be in the wrong grave.
In Kaczorowski’s case, a Polish Foreign Ministry official misidentified the body in Russia.
He recently apologized for that mistake.
Authorities say more exhumations could take place.
Front Section, Pages 12 on 11/22/2012