Magdalena Filiks, an MP from Civic Platform (PO), Poland’s main opposition party, reported on social media on Friday evening that her son, Mikołaj, had died on February 17.
“On behalf of myself and my daughters, Aleksandra and Maja, I urge the ‘media’ to respect the privacy of my family and not attend,” she said after announcing the specifics of the funeral. The funeral will take place on 7 March, the day the boy would have turned 16.
The boy’s suicide comes weeks after Radio Szczecin (local branch of state broadcaster Polskie Radio) reported on a convicted paedophile, who can be named only as Krzysztof F. under Polish privacy law, providing details about the victims that allowed Mikołaj to be easily identified.
The report revealed details of two victims, a 13-year-old boy who was molested sexually and a 16-year-old girl who was given drugs in 2020 by a local Civic Platform politician and LGBT activist, Krzysztof F. The latter was sentenced in 2021 to more than 4 years in prison during a private trial, in order to protect the victim’s identities.
Although Radio Szczecin didn’t reveal the victim’s name, they shared information about the victim’s age and the mother being a lawmaker.
The story has caused an uproar in Poland, condemning the radio, the journalist involved, but also the Law and Justice party who was accused of using “taxpayer-funded state media as a mouthpiece and tool to hold onto power”.
The deeply divided country is facing elections this fall, which will determine whether the conservative/nationalist party Law and Justice will be able to secure a third term.
