Lech Kaczyński

In 2001 he founded the political party Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość – PiS), usually labelled 'conservative' by media, with his brother Jarosław. Lech Kaczyński was the president of the party between 2001 and 2003. His brother Jarosław is its current chairman.

In 2002, Kaczyński was elected mayor of Warsaw in a landslide victory. He started his term in office by declaring war on corruption. He strongly supported the construction of the Warsaw Uprising Museum and in 2004 appointed a historical panel to estimate material losses that were inflicted upon the city by the Germans in the Second World War (an estimated 85% of the city was destroyed in the Warsaw Uprising) as a direct response to heightened claims coming from German expellees from Poland. The panel estimated the losses to be at least 45.3 billion euros ($54 billion) in current value. He also supported the construction of the museum of Polish Jews in Warsaw by donating city land to the project.

Kaczyński banned the Warsaw gay pride parade twice in 2004 and again in 2005, locally known as the Parada Równości (the Equality Parade), telling protesters that "I respect your right to demonstrate as citizens, but not as homosexuals."[9] Additionally, he feared the parade would promote a "homosexual lifestyle" and complained that police did not use enough force in breaking it up by stating "Why was force not used to break up an illegal demonstration?".[10][11] Kaczyński referred to the organizers of the gay pride parades as "perverts".[12]

In 2005, Kaczyński allowed a counter-demonstration, the "Parade of Normality",[13] organized by the All-Polish Youth, a Catholic nationalist organization opposed to "liberalism, tolerance, and relativism."

Although the president expressed respect to the homosexuals' right to demonstrate as citizens only, Poland was found guilty by the European Court of Human Rights of violating the principle of freedom of assembly under Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.[14][15][16]

On 19 March 2005, he formally declared his intention to run for president in the October 2005 election.

In the first round of the elections he polled 33% of the vote, taking second place behind Donald Tusk. By the second round, however, he had gained the support of Radio Maryja, as well as of two other political parties besides his own: Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland, and the Polish People's Party.

Elected President of the Republic of Poland (he defeated the runner-up Donald Tusk by polling 8,257,468 votes, constituting 54.04 percent of the vote), Kaczyński assumed office on 23 December 2005, taking an oath before the National Assembly.

Lech Kaczyński with U.S. President George W. Bush in 2007

In his first public speech as president-elect, Kaczyński said that his presidency would pursue the task of ameliorating the Republic, a process which he said would consist of "purging various pathologies from our life, most prominently crime (...), particularly criminal corruption – that entire, great rush to obtain unjust enrichment, a rush that is poisoning society, [and preventing the state from ensuring] elementary social security, health security, basic conditions for the development of the family [and] the security of commerce and the basic conditions for economic development.[17]

During his inauguration he stated several goals he would pursue during his presidency. Among those concerning internal affairs were: increasing social solidarity in Poland, bringing justice to those who were responsible for, or were affected by communist crimes in the People's Republic of Poland, fighting corruption, providing security in economy, and safety for development of family. Kaczyński also stated that he would seek to abolish economic inequalities between various regions of Poland. In his speech he also emphasized combining modernization with tradition and remembering the teachings of Pope John Paul II.

On 21 December 2008, Kaczyński became the first Polish head of state to visit a Polish synagogue and to attend religious services held there. His attendance coincided with the first night of Hanukkah.[18]

Kaczyński supported the reintroducing the death penalty in Poland, clashing with the European Union over the issue in 2006.[19][20][21]

From 2005 to 2007, in accordance with article 133 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, Kaczyński pardoned 77 people and declined to pardon 550.

Meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart, Dalia Grybauskaitė, in Vilnius at the Presidential Palace, 8 April 2010. This was to be Kaczyński's last meeting with a fellow head of state.

In foreign policy, Kaczyński noted that many of Poland's problems were related to the lack of energy security and this issue would have to be resolved to protect Polish interests. Strengthening ties with the United States while continuing to develop relations within the European Union are two main goals of Polish foreign affairs, as well as improving relations with France and Germany despite several problems in relations with the latter. Aside from those issues, his immediate goals were to develop a tangible strategic partnership with Ukraine and greater co-operation with the Baltic states, Azerbaijan and Georgia. He was greatly admired in Israel because he promoted educating Polish youth about the Holocaust. There was widespread grief in Israel over his death.[22]

Defense Minister Radosław Sikorski compared the planned Russia to Germany gas pipeline to the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact and Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga stated that the pipeline was a threat to Poland's energy security.[23]

In November 2006 in Helsinki, at a European Union-Russia meeting, Poland vetoed the launch of EU-Russia partnership talks due to a Russian ban on Polish meat and plant products imports.[24]

Lech Kaczyński and president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, 2008.

As a reaction to claims by a German exile group Preussische Treuhand, which represents post-1945 German expellees from Eastern Europe, the Polish Foreign Minister Fotyga mistakenly threatened to reopen a 1990 Treaty fixing the Oder and Neisse rivers as the border between the two countries instead of the Neighborhood Treaty signed in the same year.[25][26]

Following the military conflict between Russia and Georgia in 2008, Kaczyński provided the website of the President of Poland for dissemination of information for blocked by the Russian Federation Georgian internet portals. In a speech during the Russian aggression against Georgia, Kaczyński predicted: "Today Georgia, tomorrow Ukraine, the Baltic States the day after tomorrow, and then perhaps the time will come for my country, Poland!"[27]

During a state visit to Serbia in 2009, Kaczyński said that the Polish government, on the basis of its constitutional competences, decided to recognize Kosovo and emphasized that he, as the President of the state, did not agree with that.[28]

Sarcophagus of Lech and Maria in the Crypt Under the Tower of Silver Bells, Kraków

On 11 April 2010, President Kaczyński's body was returned to Poland,[35] where he and his wife lay in state at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.[36] The state funeral was held in Kraków on 18 April 2010. After a Roman Catholic mass at St. Mary's Basilica,[37] the presidential couple were laid to rest in a coffin, which was placed in the antechamber of the Crypt Under the Tower of Silver Bells beneath the Wawel Cathedral.[38][39][40] A significant number of foreign dignitaries were unable to attend the funeral as a result of air travel disruption in Europe following the eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland.[41]

In June 2016, the Polish government announced it would re-open the investigation into the Smolensk jet crash with plans to exhume and autopsy all 96 of the victims.[42] On 14 November 2016, the first of ten bodies, including Kaczyński's, were exhumed.[43] Kaczyński and his wife were reburied on 18 November 2016 after autopsies.[44]

By 1 June 2017, exhumations of 27 coffins had been completed and DNA tests confirmed that 24 of those coffins, Kaczyński's among them, showed evidence of mix-ups, including switched bodies, partial sets of remains and multiple remains in one grave.[45]

•  Poland:
  • Knight of the Order of the White Eagle
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta

•  Azerbaijan:
  • Recipient of the Heydar Aliyev Order (2 July 2009)
•  Croatia:
  • Recipient of the Grand Order of King Tomislav (10 January 2008)
•  Czech Republic:
  • Member 1st Class of the Order of the White Lion (21 January 2010)
•  Georgia:
  • Recipient of the Order of National Hero of Georgia (posthumously, 10 April 2010)[46]
  • Recipient of the St. George's Order of Victory (23 November 2007)
•  Hungary:
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (18 March 2009)
•  Lithuania:
  • Commander Grand Cross with Golden Chain of the Order of Vytautas the Great (16 April 2009)
•  Sovereign Military Order of Malta:
  • Collar of the Order pro Merito Melitensi (26 February 2009)
  • Grand Cross Special Class of the Order pro Merito Melitensi (14 May 2007)
•  Portugal:
  • Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry (2 September 2008)
•  Romania:
  • Collar of the Order of the Star of Romania (7 October 2009)
•  Saudi Arabia:
  • Collar of the Order of Abdulaziz al Saud (25 June 2007)
•  Slovakia:
  • Member 1st Class of the Order of the White Double Cross (21 February 2009)[47]
•  Ukraine:
  • Member 1st Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (6 December 2007)

•  Georgia : Honorary doctorate from the Tbilisi State University in Georgia (16 April 2007)
•  South Korea : Honorary doctorate from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul (6 December 2008)
•  Poland : Honorary doctorate from Catholic University of Lublin (1 July 2009)
•  Poland : Honorary citizen of Warsaw (15 April 2010)