Poland to move cross put up in memory of late president to end row

An ad-hoc wooden cross set up outside the presidential palace in the days of mourning after a plane crash that killed 96, including Poland's president, will be moved, officials said.

The cross is at the heart of a heated political dispute over the responsibility for the crash near an airport in Smolensk in western Russia on April 10, which killed Poland's conservative president, Lech Kaczynski, and which continues to polarise Poles.

"The cross by the presidential palace will be moved to the Academic Church of St Anna in Warsaw, a place strongly bound to the history of Poland," a joint statement by the president's chancellery, the Warsaw diocese, a Scout organisation, and the Church of St Anna read.

"This temple is a site of permanent prayers for the tragically perished president Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and all victims of the Smolensk catastrophe," it said.

The Scout group planted the cross outside Kaczynski's offices following the crash. Tens of thousands of people prayed by it, lit candles, or laid flowers to honour the victims, who included ministers, lawmakers, and members of Poland's military elite.

President-elect Bronislaw Komorowski, who won Poland's presidency in June backed by prime minister Donald Tusk's civic platform, wanted to move the cross earlier to a more appropriate place.

This sparked anger among some Poles, mostly of the right-wing, Catholic electorate of the main opposition party, Law and Justice, led by Kaczynski's twin brother, Jaroslaw.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski told a recent news conference that removing the cross would be a ‘moral abuse’ until a proper memorial is erected on the site.

Soon afterwards, a stand was set up beside the cross to collect signatures of those who wanted the cross removed from the site, which is one of Warsaw's most popular streets in the historic old town.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski accuses Tusk's government of carrying out a slipshod investigation into the crash and has suggested that Warsaw is at least partly responsible for organising the president's trip that ended in a catastrophe.

Kaczynski also questioned the role of the Smolensk airport ground control in the accident and criticised Russian authorities' handling of the case after the crash.

Tusk's office accuses Jaroslaw Kaczynski of using the catastrophe to win political points and urged confidence in the crash investigations by Polish and Russian bodies.

Since taking power in 2007, Tusk has sought to improve relations with Russia, which are traditionally strained over historic as well as security issues, after hitting a rocky patch during Jaroslaw Kaczynski's rule as prime minister in 2006-2007.