On 19 October a 54-year-old man set himself on fire outside the Palace of Culture in Warsaw and died 10 days later in defence of the democracy he believed is increasingly under threat in Poland.
First he distributed dozens of copies of a letter that carefully summarised the attacks of the present government on the rule of law and liberal democracy.
The Guardian’s coverage of Poland’s descent into autocracy has been exemplary since the Law and Justice party (PiS) gained power two years ago. Yet this act, on a par with that of the Czech student Jan Palach in Prague in 1969, has gone unreported in Britain.
Piotr Szczęsny’s act should not used as a football in Poland’s fractious politics, it would demean his motive and his anguish, but have we become so inured and insular that this ultimate sacrifice in the centre of Warsaw passes by unnoticed?
Meanwhile, the Polish government won’t even release his body to his family for burial.
John Dyke
London
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• The letter above was amended on 7 November 2017. An earlier version gave the year 1968 where 1969 was meant.
