Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

ATHENS ART EXHIBIT CURATOR PROSECUTED FOR CRUCIFIX ''DESECRATION''

IFEX | 01.06.2005 17:02 | Anti-racism | Globalisation | Repression | World

This sure recalls to mind some saying about a "goose" and a "gander", or something like that. And it isn't even a real crucifix, but only one REPRESENTED in a PAINTING.

NOW will that idiot in the White House prosecute the scum who ordered the Holy Qur'an to be dumped in the toilet?

Of course not, inasmuch as this would mean that Bush himself would be the chief subject of prosecution.

Curator of Athens art exhibition on trial for painting "insulting the Orthodox Church"
MAY 30, 2005
 http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/66998/

Country/Topic: Greece
Date: 30 May 2005
Source: Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM)
Person(s): Christos Joachimides
Target(s): other
Type(s) of violation(s): harassed , legal action
Urgency: Threat

(GHM/IFEX) - The following is a 29 May 2005 GHM press release:

Topic: Athens "Cultural Olympiad" art exhibition curator on trial for painting "insulting the Orthodox Church"

Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) condemns the forthcoming 3 June 2005 trial, at the First Single-Member Misdemeanors Court of Athens, of Christos Joachimides, curator of "Outlook," Greece's most important contemporary art exhibition, for having, in December 2003, "publicly and maliciously insulted the Eastern Orthodox Church with an obscene, repulsive and despicable painting that is anything but a piece of art" (Article 199 of the Greek Criminal Code).

"Outlook" was a key activity of the "Cultural Olympiad" preceding the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. It was inaugurated on 24 October 2003 by the President of the Republic, in the presence of several socialist ministers and Athens' conservative Mayor. No one seemed to have been offended by any exhibit.

Forty-five days later, on 9 December 2003, Greece's extreme-right party leader George Karatzaferis protested that Belgian artist Thierry de Cordier's "Asperges Me (Dry Sin)" painting was "the most obscene, immoral, shameless painting I had ever seen." On the right of the canvas was a cross, propped against a wall; on the left a fully erect penis. Karatzaferis saw on the canvas that semen was dripping from the crucifix. Even worse, "the penis, that thing, looked circumcised," added the notoriously anti-Semitic politician. Karatzaferis filed a complaint report with Supreme Court Prosecutor Dimitris Linos. The latter, who almost never acts on complaint reports by human rights organizations, asked the Athens prosecutor's office to launch an inquiry into whether the work's public presentation constituted a crime. Prosecutor Vasiliki Leni found enough evidence to refer the curator to trial seventeen months later, summoning George Karatzaferis and the spokesperson of the Greek Church, Father Epifanios, as prosecution witnesses.

It should be noted that, following Karatazferis' reaction, many politicians suddenly found themselves "dismayed," a reaction fuelled by the notoriously intolerant Greek media. Then socialist Culture Minister, Professor Evangleos Venizelos, asked the organizing committee (made up of art experts and academics) to withdraw the painting, and the latter duly complied. Their decision was subsequently considered as an unlawful restriction of artistic freedom by the Greek Ombudsman.

MORE INFORMATION:

For further information, contact GHM at P.O. Box 60820, GR-15304 Glyka Nera, Greece, tel: +30 210 347 2259, fax: +30 210 601 8760, e-mail:  office@greekhelsinki.gr , Internet:  http://www.greekhelsinki.gr

IFEX
- e-mail: office@greekhelsinki.gr
- Homepage: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/66998/

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. And your point is? — Zorro
  2. only difference being — DICKHEAD?

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech