Officials honour Pole who died of wounds following Strasbourg attack

2018-12-17 10:07 update: 2018-12-19, 12:31
Photo PAP/EPA/RONALD WITTEK
Photo PAP/EPA/RONALD WITTEK
Polish and foreign officials have honoured a Pole who died of wounds sustained in last Tuesday's terror attack in France's eastern city of Strasbourg.

The 36-year-old Pole, Barto Pedro Orent-Niedzielski, lived in Strasbourg. Information about his death was announced by his brother on Facebook.

"Bartosz Niedzielski died in a Strasbourg hospital on Sunday. The fifth fatal victim of the December 11 attack. He worked at the European Parliament. I knew him by sight. I am shocked. I was not aware of the fact that it was him, who was fatally wounded while protecting other people. RIP," Polish President Andrzej Duda wrote on Twitter. 

The presidential minister, Andrzej Dera announced on Monday that President Duda will posthumously award a distinction to honour the Pole. "(...) He sacrificed his life to save others. This is a true  example," Dera stressed.  

Let him rest in peace, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani wrote on Twitter, bidding farewell to the Pole.

"We unite in pain with the family of the victim, the Pole, who died following the attack," the Polish Foreign Minister, Jacek Czaputowicz told a private TV broadcaster on Monday.

"Poland is a secure country but attacks also hit our citizens. This is very sad," he said.  

The Polish Foreign Ministry extended condolences to his family on Twitter on Sunday.

On Tuesday, Cherif Chekatt, 29, born in Strasbourg to Algerian parents, opened fire near a Christmas market, killing three people and wounding more than ten, including the Pole. Another wounded victim died on Friday. It was the Pole's friend, an Italian journalist, Antonio Megalizzi.
 
The gunman, Cherif Chekatt, was killed on Thursday night after firing on police, ending a two-day manhunt that involved more than 700 members of the security forces. (PAP)
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