{"id":54185,"date":"2026-01-26T17:07:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T14:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/?post_type=news&p=54185"},"modified":"2026-01-27T11:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T08:24:07","slug":"russia-possesses-the-death-certificate-of-a-polish-citizen-who-died-in-the-taganrog-prison-poland-cannot-obtain-the-document-gazeta-wyborcza","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/russia-possesses-the-death-certificate-of-a-polish-citizen-who-died-in-the-taganrog-prison-poland-cannot-obtain-the-document-gazeta-wyborcza\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia possesses the death certificate of a Polish citizen who died in the Taganrog prison; Poland cannot obtain the document \u2014 Gazeta Wyborcza"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The death certificate of Krzysztof Galos, who traveled to Ukraine in 2023 to a combat zone and was taken prisoner by Russia, is held at a civil registry office (ZAGS) in Russia\u2019s Rostov Region. This was reported<\/a> by Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em>, citing the Krak\u00f3w police, who in turn refer to data from Interpol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the certificate, Galos died on July 4, 2023. However, neither Polish state authorities nor the family of the missing Pole have so far received the document itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Krzysztof Galos, a resident of Krak\u00f3w, crossed the Polish\u2013Ukrainian border in April 2023. He was traveling in his own car and carried a bicycle with him. His relatives told<\/a> journalists that he could not believe a full-scale war was actually taking place in Ukraine and wanted to see it with his own eyes. They also believe that Galos suffered from prolonged depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em>, the man attempted to enter Enerhodar, but Ukrainian soldiers at a checkpoint near the village of Hryhorivka did not let him through. Presumably, he found another route. Using contacts within Ukrainian law enforcement, Galos\u2019s son managed to learn that his father\u2019s car had been captured by surveillance cameras near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant \u2014 an area controlled by the Russian army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November 2025, the Memorial Human Rights Defense Center published the third part of a report<\/a> based on a human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine. This part is devoted to the situation of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian hostages. It stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘According to one of our respondents, in May 2023 a citizen of Poland was brought to the Taganrog remand prison. He said that he \u201dhad gone to travel around Ukraine and see what was going on there, but took a wrong turn and ended up at a Russian military checkpoint.\u201c He was regularly beaten for not learning Russian and for Poland\u2019s support of Ukraine. One of the guard shifts beat him so severely during a roll call that his legs turned blue and began to fail, and in mid-June 2023 he died. After that, his cellmates were forced to sign statements saying that none of the staff had beaten him and that there had been no conflicts in the cell.’<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Memorial report was published, Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em> found<\/a> its own witness who had been held in the Taganrog remand prison and heard abuse of the Pole in a neighboring cell. The newspaper spoke with Boris, an officer of Ukraine\u2019s State Emergency Service (DSNS) from Melitopol. According to Boris, he heard the Pole being constantly insulted, beaten, and forced to learn the Russian national anthem and military songs. Boris and his cellmates called the Pole ‘Christopher’; he does not know his surname.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boris says that after one of the mass beatings of prisoners by Russian special forces, he heard other inmates calling for a doctor for the Pole. A few days later, the beaten man died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘It was either Monday or Tuesday,’<\/em> Boris told journalists. ‘I heard shouting from the corridor; the duty officer and a medic ran in. I heard someone being carried out into the corridor and then taken away. After that, the guys from that cell were called in for questioning.’<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, Boris shared a cell with a man who had previously been held with the Pole and had witnessed his death:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘He told me what had happened. Krzysztof woke up in the morning and said, \u201dI think I\u2019m going to die now.\u201d He was feeling very bad. When he started having breakfast, he suddenly began to shake and collapsed. His cellmates immediately called the guards. When he was carried out, he was already dying.’<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boris learned that after the beating, the cellmates rubbed the Pole\u2019s legs, which had become badly swollen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boris also confirms that the deceased man\u2019s cellmates were forced to sign statements saying that remand prison staff had not used violence against him. The official cause of death, according to him, was a stroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Galos\u2019s son says he is ’99 percent sure’<\/em> that the Polish citizen beaten to death in the Taganrog remand prison was his father.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-54185","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","regions-rostov-oblast","news-type-nashi-novosti-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRussia possesses the death certificate of a Polish citizen who died in the Taganrog prison; Poland cannot obtain the document \u2014 Gazeta Wyborcza - Political prisoners support. Memorial<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Polish citizen Krzysztof Galos traveled to Ukraine\u2019s war zone in the spring of 2023 to see for himself that the war was real. 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