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Piotr Paweł Szczęsny (6 July 1963, Kraków – 29 October 2017, Warsaw) was a Polish chemist and a Mensa member who committed suicide by immolation in protest against the policies of the ruling Law and Justice government.

He studied chemistry at Jagiellonian University and became a member of the Independent Students' Union. He worked in the 1980s in the " Solidarność" union federation. After graduation, he remained as an assistant at the university, and began his doctoral thesis. After 1989, he left the university and became co-founder of a publishing house, which edited manuals on chemistry. For ten years, he held the post of Chairman of a Society for Continuing Vocational Training. He worked as a consultant on business issues. In 2016 he closed his company.

He burned himself as a sign of political protest. On 19 October 2017, he distributed copies of a self-composed leaflet in front of the Palace of Culture and Science, poured flammable liquid over himself and set himself on fire. ^[1] He died in the hospital ^[2] ten days later. ^[3] Following Szczęsny's death, the government media declared him mentally unstable. ^[4]

Szczęsny lived in Niepołomice; his wife is a pharmacist and their two children were studying for their doctorates. ^[5] He was not involved in any political action of the Polish opposition and had suffered from depression for the last eight years of his life. ^[5] In a letter to his family, he stated that his deed was not motivated by his condition. ^{[6] [7]} Szczęsny's suicide received considerable publicity and a march held to honour him was attended by several hundred people. ^[8]

Piotr Szczęsny was buried on 14 November 2017 at the Kraków Salwator Cemetery in the presence of thousands of mourners from all over Poland. ^[9]

• Ryszard Siwiec
• Romas Kalanta
• List of political self-immolations

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