A Moscow court ruled on Monday that organisers of an art exhibition were guilty of inciting "national, racial or religious enmity."

The court called the exhibit, entitled 'Caution! Religion,' - "openly insulting and blasphemous."

A press release by the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Centre said that the art was both a call for a "delicate, respectful attitude" towards religion and a "warning sign" for "religious fundamentalism."

The court fined Museum director Yuri Samodurov, and curator Lyudmila Vasilovaskaya approximately £2,000 each. Another organiser, artist Anna Mikhalchuk was not fined and had charges dropped. Samodurov and Vasilovaskaya could have been imprisoned for three years and two years respectively.

The three defendants were tried under article 282 of the Russian criminal code, which outlaws "incitement of national, racial or religious enmity."

One of the works, which went on display in the winter of 2003, was a poster advertisement depicting Jesus Christ and the words "Coca-cola" with "This is My blood" written underneath.

Another work with the title, "You shall not make for yourself an idol" showed the frame of a Christian Orthodox icon with the head and hands of the saint cut out so that a person could place his or her own head and hands in their place.

Samodurov said that he regarded the ruling as "purely political," according to Kommersant. He intended to appeal.

Mikkhalchuk, who was not fined, said in the New York Times, "I am afraid the formulation of the court’s ruling will be used as a precedent for the authorities." She added, "It practically crosses out Russia on the list of secular nations."

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin from the Moscow Patriarchy said the ruling was fair. "There is no need to imprison such people and to make martyrs out of them, but it is vital that the exhibition has been assessed from juridical point of view," he told Kommersant.





Francis Helguero
Ecumenical Press