Saturday, June 6, marks two years since the death of Sgt. Mateusz Sitek, who was attacked with a knife by an illegal migrant at the Polish-Belarusian border. The investigation has been placed under superior official supervision by Waldemar Żurek through the Department for Military Affairs of the National Prosecutor’s Office, Niezalezna.pl has learned. Unfortunately, there is a lack of concrete information about progress in the search for the murderer of the Polish soldier. Unless there has been no progress at all.
While on duty, the 21-year-old Sgt. Sitek was attacked by one of a group of aggressive men attempting to breach the border barrier near Dubicze Cerkiewne. As the soldier was securing a breach in the fence, an illegal migrant reached through the barrier and stabbed him in the chest.
Change of prosecutor’s office
On May 28, 2024, the wounded soldier was evacuated to a hospital in Hajnówka. Due to the severity of his injuries, he was later transferred to the Military Medical Institute – National Research Institute in Warsaw. Sgt. Mateusz Sitek died on June 6, 2024.
Initially, immediately after the May 28 attack, the investigation was conducted as an attempted murder case. At that time, Mateusz Sitek was still alive but in critical condition. The first procedural actions were supervised by the Military Division of the Białystok-Północ District Prosecutor’s Office. Investigators and military police officers carried out inspections at the scene and secured evidence, including footage from surveillance cameras located near the border barrier and the knife used to stab the victim. Witnesses were also questioned.
Subsequently, the Military Affairs Department of the Warsaw Regional Prosecutor’s Office took over the investigation. One day after the soldier’s death, the results of the autopsy were released. It was determined that death resulted from a stab wound to the chest, damage to the left lung, and subsequent damage to the central nervous system caused by the injury.
Mysterious supervision
Two years have passed since the tragic events. What have the Polish services and prosecutors established? We asked about this for several days. The response was either nonexistent or extremely general.
In response to questions from Niezalezna.pl, prosecutor Anna Adamiak, spokesperson for Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek, stated:
“The Prosecutor General exercises his supervisory powers over the activities of the prosecutor’s office, including ongoing preparatory proceedings, through the National Prosecutor and the substantive departments of the National Prosecutor’s Office.”
“The proceedings concerning the death of Sgt. Mateusz Sitek are being conducted by the Military Affairs Department of the Warsaw Regional Prosecutor’s Office and remain under the superior official supervision of the Department for Military Affairs of the National Prosecutor’s Office.”
“The case was placed under the superior official supervision of the Department for Military Affairs of the National Prosecutor’s Office on June 14, 2024, in accordance with the decision of the National Prosecutor. This supervision remains in force.”
However, the prosecutor’s office did not directly answer questions regarding any other actions taken in the case.
What, then, results from this supervision?
Mohammad T.
Just days after Sgt. Sitek’s death, the newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported that a photograph of a man allegedly identified as the murderer or someone connected to the crime was being circulated among soldiers. The individual was said to be Mohammad T. According to information on a Facebook account attributed to him, he was a Moroccan guide who studied at a university in Lebanon and had a distinctive tattoo of two stars on the right side of his neck. Officers reportedly claimed that he was involved in migrant smuggling.
Investigators also secured genetic material from the knife believed to have been used in the attack on Sgt. Sitek.
In November 2024, in an interview with Wirtualna Polska, General Arkadiusz Szkutnik, then commander of the 18th Mechanized Division, stated that the killer had been identified. According to him, the services possessed photographs of the suspect and knew where he had appeared. There was also information indicating that he had stayed in Western European countries, including France and Belgium. General Szkutnik referred to Sgt. Sitek as “my soldier.”
Did the prosecutor’s office verify these and other leads? Did it request assistance from foreign services through international legal cooperation? Were elite police fugitive-tracking units assigned to search for Mohammad T.? While Żurek and the prosecutor’s office under his authority regularly provide information on investigations involving opposition politicians, they remain silent regarding the search for the murderer of a Polish soldier. No information has been released about the progress of the investigation or current operational activities.
Facebook data
Although two years have passed since the murder, no information has been released about the issuance of a European Arrest Warrant or an Interpol Red Notice. To request either measure, investigators generally need to establish the suspect’s identity.
According to previous reports, the suspect’s name was known only from a Facebook profile, meaning it may not have been genuine. However, Meta, the owner of Facebook, can provide law enforcement agencies with extensive information upon request, including phone numbers, email addresses, login locations and times, contacts, and multimedia files.
Whether such opportunities were used remains unknown.
Żurek’s prosecutor’s office in action — but in other cases
It should be recalled that Minister Waldemar Żurek has intervened in various individual proceedings. This was also the case recently. At the end of May, Żurek established an investigative team to examine the entry into the National Prosecutor’s Office by a group of journalists from TV Republika and members of parliament seeking to conduct a parliamentary inspection. The incident occurred during the questioning of Tomasz Sakiewicz. The team is reportedly to be led by prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek, a close associate of Żurek.
For a long time, the current authorities have highlighted special efforts in cases other than the search for Sgt. Sitek’s killer. Former Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar established, among others, Investigative Team No. 2 concerning the Justice Fund. The current Prosecutor General, Waldemar Żurek, has also focused extensively on cases involving people connected with the previous government. He even suggested that bringing back Zbigniew Ziobro “in a car trunk” was a possibility. Similarly, the capture of Marcin Romanowski has been presented as a priority. More recently, Żurek announced that he had submitted a request to the President of the European Parliament seeking the lifting of immunity, detention, and compulsory appearance of MEP Patryk Jaki.
Case prosecutor on leave
It should be recalled that in July 2025, one year after the soldier’s death, we asked the Warsaw Regional Prosecutor’s Office about the status of the investigation.
“It is planned to prepare a more extensive statement regarding the findings made, but no date has been specified,” we were told.
At the beginning of June, two years after Sgt. Sitek’s murder, there are still no concrete answers.
“At the moment, the prosecutor handling the case is on leave. As soon as he returns, we will prepare appropriate information for you regarding the matter. Probably next week,” the response stated.
However, the prosecutor’s office refused even to disclose the name of the prosecutor supervising the investigation.