The ruling Law & Justice party of Poland came under fire over the death of opposition MP’s 15-year-old son Mikolaj Filiks, who committed suicide after a state-run radio station, in its report, identified him as a victim of a paedophile.
Poland’s parliament, Sejm, observed silence for a minute on Tuesday on the demise of the MP’s son. Filiks’ mother, Magdalena Filiks, who is an MP from Civic Platform, which is Poland’s main opposition party, last week said that he had died in February.
The teenager ended his life weeks after the state-run broadcaster Polskie Radio network, in its report on a convicted paedophile by Radio Szczecin, revealed the victim’s details that made it possible for Filiks to be easily identified to the public.
In the report aired in December, the ages of minors were disclosed by the radio and it was said that one of them was the child of a local man. The report further stated that the convicted man — whose trial was held by the court in private in 2021 to protect his victims — was a former member of Civic Platform, an LGBT activist and an election candidate.
The report, which other state media widely relayed, led to a major uproar in Poland, as the supporters of the opposition party alleged that it was orchestrated by the national-conservative Law & Justice (PiS) party for political gain and hence, the party is partly responsible for the child’s death.
PiS, which will be fighting a tough election later this year, tightly controls Poland’s media and has led campaigns against the rights of the LGBT community. In turn, the ruling party’s supporters have claimed that Civic Platform deliberately covered the original abuse conviction.
Leader of Civic Platform, former Polish prime minister and European Council president, Donald Tusk tweeted his vow to “hold PiS to account for every villainy, for all human harm and tragedies they have caused while in power”.
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Former cabinet minister and Polish MEP Radosław Sikorski said the case displayed the kind of co-operation between prosecutors and the PiS-run media and stated that such operations were “planned … and routinely used to destroy political competitors”.
Opposition party Poland 2050’s leader Szymon Hołownia said there were “no words today that could bring solace”. “However, there will come – let no one doubt it – a time of reckoning for those whose words bring death,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
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