The opposition Law and Justice party has filed a complaint to the Media Ethics Council after the anti-clerical ‘NIE’ weekly published a survey in which respondents discussed the possible suicide of the party’s leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

The weekly, whose editor-in-chief, Jerzy Urban was a government spokesman during Martial Law at the beginning of the 1980s, is known for its anti-clerical and often sardonic take on Polish current affairs.

The survey asked about the demise of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, with a number of political and social figureheads giving their responses.

Among those who aired their opinion were deputy parliamentary speaker Jerzy Wenderlich (Democratic Left Alliance), former Civic Platform MP Janusz Palikot, as well as independent politician and renowned film director Kazimierz Kutz.

The populist leader of the Self-Defence party, Andrzej Lepper, journalists Jacek Zakowski and Piotr Najsztub, as well as Janusz Czapinski, a social psychologist also took part in the survey.

Both Janusz Palikot and Kutz replied that Kaczynski would end his days “by committing suicide,” with Kutz stating that the direct reason for Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s demise will be the death of his mother.

“I certainly do not wish [Kaczynski] such a fate,” Kutz told the ‘NIE’ weekly, although he added “death by suicide is not such a bad thing when a person has to suffer like that.”

Meanwhile Andrzej Lepper, who was deputy PM in Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s coalition government, said that the leader of Law and Justice will end his days “to the joy of Poland and Poles.”

Law and Justice: ‘a macabre auction of hate’

However, the article for Law and Justice is no laughing matter. A letter sent to the Media Ethics Council by the party’s spokesman, Adam Hofman, demands an assessment of the article and “confirmation that [it] does not comply with the Ethics Charter, which calls for truth, objectivity, respect and tolerance, as well as freedom and responsibility.”

“The article […] does not aim to ask for journalists’ opinions on the political future of the Law and Justice leader, but rather the organisation of a macabre auction of slander, calumny, and distasteful jokes at the expense of Jaroslaw Kaczynski,” reads the letter of complaint. (jb)

Source: PAP