Aleksander Szczygło

Who was Aleksander Szczygło?

Aleksander Marek Szczygło was a Polish politician. He was first elected to Polish parliament Sejm in 2001 and subsequently reelected on 25 September 2005 with 19,006 votes in 35th electoral district. Both times he was a candidate of the Law and Justice party.

From 7 February 2007 until 16 November 2007 he was Minister of National Defence in the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński.

From 15 January 2009 until his death he was the chief of the National Security Bureau.

He was listed on the flight manifest of the Tupolev Tu-154 of the 36th Special Aviation Regiment carrying the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński which crashed near Smolensk-North airport near Pechersk near Smolensk, Russia, on 10 April 2010, killing all aboard.

In 2010, Szczygło was posthumously awarded the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He had previously been awarded the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary in 2009 and the Ukrainian Order of Merit 2nd Class.