Source: http://02varvara.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/organisers-of-the-exhibition-forbidden-art-2006-sentenced-to-fines/
Timestamp: 2013-05-25 01:38:58
Document Index: 279839693

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art 2006', 'Art 2006', 'Art 2006', 'in fine', 'Art 2010', 'Art 2006', 'art 2', 'Art 2010']

Organisers of the Exhibition “Forbidden Art 2006″ Sentenced to Fines | Voices from Russia
Organisers of the Exhibition “Forbidden Art 2006″ Sentenced to Fines	Filed under: Christian,church in society,cultural,fine arts,legal,moral issues,Moscow Patriarchate,Orthodox life,politics,religious,Russian — 01varvara @ 00.00 Tags: Hannah Arendt, Marat Gelman, Moscow, Moscow Patriarchate, Russia, Russian, Russian art, Russian culture, Russian painting, Samodurov, Tretyakov Gallery, Yerofeyev, Yuri Samodurov
Yuri Samodurov (1951- ) (left) and Andrei Yerofeyev (1956- ) (right, closer to camera) in the defendant’s cage at the Tagansk Moscow Court… don’t they look so innocuous and ordinary? Don’t forget Hannah Arendt’s observation on the banality of evil… Satan’s servants don’t have horns and hooves and a tail… some even wear cassocks!
The Tagansk Moscow Court convicted the organizers of the exhibition “Forbidden Art 2006”, Yuri Samodurov, the former director of the Sakharov Centre, and Andrei Yerofeyev, the former head of the Department of Contemporary Art at the Tretyakov Gallery, of inciting national and religious hatred, according to a correspondent from the Russian Agency of Legal and Judicial Information (RAPSI). According to the decision of Judge Svetlana Aleksandrova, the defendants received fines; Samodurov was fined 200,000 roubles (6,480 USD 5,153 Euros 4,305 UK Pounds), Yerofeyev has to pay 150,000 roubles (4,860 USD 3,865 Euros 3,229 UK Pounds). “Samodurov and Yerofeyev committed acts that aimed to incite national hatred and strife”, Judge Aleksandrova said in announcing her verdict, RIA-Novosti reported. As noted in the documents presented in court, the exhibition exhibits insulted the worldview of believers. The sentence noted that planning to organise such an exhibition was “criminal intent”, which the accused could carry though due to their professional knowledge in fine arts. In addition, the court noted that the works contained obscene language. Earlier, the procurator asked for the stiff sentences for the defendants, requesting the court to sentence both of them to three years’ imprisonment.
Yerofeyev and Samodurov refused to admit guilt for the alleged acts; they were “justified” on the grounds of individual rights. “This is a trumped-up political show trial, with no resemblance to do with democratic justice”, Yerofeyev said at a press conference at the central office of Interfax on Thursday. In his opinion, they had no intent to insult the worldview of believers. “It’s totally false to hurl at us the accusation that the ‘Forbidden Art’ exhibition offended the worldview of believers”, he said. For his part, Samodurov said that the exhibition raised an important question, “We had to defend the right to show those works, on our own decision as curators, regardless of any external opinion. Objectively speaking, to the religious consciousness, such an artistic idiom is blasphemous and insulting. However, in what sense [is it so]? It’s an insult to Muslims to say God has a son; to say that God exists is an insult to atheists. The language of Contemporary Art, which essentially consists in the use of unexpected combinations in the same space, is fundamentally different from the standpoint of the Church, which calls such blasphemy. There is a conflict between the religious and the secular… in culture, we should keep such scrupulously separate. Those who brought this court case were not interested in the activities of museums”.
Marat Gelman (1960- ), organiser of the “Forbidden Art 2010” exhibition, a fellow traveller of Samodurov and Yerofeyev… reflect on the fact that the neocons and liberals support this sort of trash in the name of “freedom” and “democracy”… meaty bone to chew on, no?
In Samodurov’s view, the verdict does not put an end to the conflict. ”This sentence will not satisfy most people. I’ve never been a fighter against religion. Both the religious and non-religious consciousness are eternal, they complement each other. The record of the court in trying to strike a balance between the religious and non-religious mentality is less than brilliant”, he said. The courtroom proceedings were not without incident. In the morning, supporters of Yerofeyev and Samodurov somehow managed to sneak in thousands of cockroaches to the court building and let them go. “The cockroaches scattered throughout the building. They brought them in to protest against the ‘cockroaches of the court’”, a bailiff said, without specifying what they did about the bugs, or whether they arrested any of those who took part in this unusual action. It took quite some time to deal with all the roaches. In the middle of the announcement of the verdict, reporters noticed some insects in the hallway, and rushed to put the scene on camera. “Don’t torture animals, why would you do that?” a charwoman said, who caught the bugs in her gloved hands. At the time of the verdict, believers sang psalms in the courtyard. They heard it in the third-floor courtroom, as the sentence was pronounced. The action, according to organisers, was intended “to defend the Orthodox faith”. Meanwhile, the courtroom became unbearably stuffy {the temp has been hovering in the high 30s in Moscow: editor}. They had to put a fan on the table [in an attempt to beat the heat]. At times, the judge interrupted the hearing to re-adjust it.
According to investigators, Yuri Samodurov, the former director of the independent non-profit cultural organisation Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Centre for Peace, Progress, and Human Rights, and Andrei Yerofeyev, theformer head of the Department of Contemporary Art at the State Tretyakov Gallery, organised the ” Forbidden Art 2006 ” exhibition, which took place from 7 to 31 March 2007 at the Sakharov Centre in Moscow. It highlighted works containing “humiliating and degrading images against the Christian religion and against [Russian] citizens who are believers”, the Moscow procurator’s office reported. Samodurov and Yerofeyev faced charge of inciting hatred and enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity by using their official position (point “b” part 2 of article 282 of the RF Criminal Code). This article provides a maximum penalty of imprisonment for a term of five years. Samodurov has a prior criminal record for committing a similar crime. In 2005, the Tagansk District Court of Moscow sentenced him to a fine of 100,000 roubles (3,241 USD 2,579 Euros 2,156 UK Pounds). That conviction is now moot and irrelevant. 12 July 2010
ttp://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/07/12/12079807.html
This is not the end of this dispute. Samodurov is right to say, ”This sentence will not satisfy most people”. The godless expected the perps to get off scot-free, whilst believers wanted them to get the belt. However, one thing is certain… neither Samodurov nor Yerofeyev shall be part of “Forbidden Art 2010”; they know that they would get katorga the next time around if they were caught messing around again. It’s not called твардой порядок (strict order) for nothing (make a fist when you say that one, that’s what Russians do)! That’s why this smirking scumbag Marat Gelman is going to front it. I’m sorry that he’s Jewish… all the troglodyte Anti-Semites are going to crawl out from under their rocks and scream, “I told you so! The Yids are the enemies of the Church. We’ve got to smash ‘em in the kisser to show ‘em we mean business”. However, look at what it means… the secularists are STUPID… they’re as dumb as dirt, kiddies. They should have put “Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov” as their front-man… they’d be unassailable. “What… there’s no Yid conspiracy… see, our organisers are all Great Russians… there’s not a Yid amongst ‘em”. THAT would have been brilliant! So, cheer… the godless hedonists aren’t the brightest bulbs in the shop… that’s GOOD. Raise a drink and smile. The good guys won.