Murder of a Polish monk in Tunisia

22.2.2011

Question for written answer E-002047/2011
to the Commission
Rule 117
Konrad Szymański (ECR)

On 18 February, Marek Rybiński, a Polish Salesian priest, was killed in Tunis. He had been working in Tunisia since 2007. The circumstances surrounding his death are unclear. There is much — including the sheer violence involved — to suggest that his murder was religiously motivated. The Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that the way in which the priest was killed points towards ‘a group of fascist terrorists with extremist tendencies’. He is the second monk to have been found dead during the recent civil unrest in the region.

On 31 January, the feast day of Don Bosco, founder of the Salesian order, Salesians in Manouba found an anonymous letter containing death threats that had been slipped under their door. The Polish Embassy in Tunis estimates that around 700 Polish citizens reside permanently in Tunisia. This figure included three priests, two in Tunis and one in Djerba.

Are diplomatic services providing information on this matter to the Commission?

Is the Commission intending to exert the political pressure necessary to ensure that the Tunisian authorities find and prosecute those responsible for this murder?

OJ C 294 E, 06/10/2011