Polish Engineer’s Body Returned [Updated]

UPDATE 6.05:

On the 5th of May, Piotr Stańczak’s body was laid to rest in Krosno, in southeastern Poland. The Roman Catholic burial ceremony was attended by his family, as well as Krosno Mayor Piotr Przytocki and representatives from the Polish and Pakistani foreign ministries.

ORIGINAL STORY:

The body of Piotr Stańczak, an engineer for Geofizyka Krakow Limited who was captured and killed by the Taliban, was handed over to Pakistani authorities on Sunday, April 26th. The body was given to local officials in the town of Razmak in the turbulent tribal north-western region of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, and was then flown out by helicopter to an undisclosed location.

During a ceremony at the Warsaw airport where Stańczak’s body landed, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer said: “Both Pakistani authorities as well as Poland’s foreign ministry will continue to do their utmost to find and punish the perpetrators.” What’s currently unknown is whether Polish authorities paid the 700 thousand dollars the Taliban reportedly demanded for the return of the body, according to Dziennik.

As reported earlier by the Krakow Post, Stanczak was kidnapped on the 28th of September 2008 in the village of Pind Sultani by Taliban militants, and beheaded in February of this year after their demands were not met. The killing, which was filmed by the militants and sent to the Polish and Pakistani authorities, was the first occurrence of a Pole being killed by Islamic militants. Undoubtedly, the Polish government hopes that it will be the last.