A Russian court today put an end to a 14 month political show trial by passing a guilty verdict on two art curators, each accused of inciting religious and ethnic hatred, insulting human dignity, and causing offence to (and damaging the world outlook of) believers. I know, I know. Yury Samodurov, who’d previously been fined 100,000 roubles (£2100) for his 2003 exposition “Caution, Religion”, and Andrei Yerofeyev each face several years in prison after the Narodny Sobor (People’s Council) demanded their prosecution for organising the “Forbidden Art” exhibition at the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Centre in March 2007.
The art, some of which could be classed as mildly pornographic, included a Mickey Mouse Jesus, and a Christ on the cross with the Messiah’s head replaced by an Order Of Lenin medal. All pretty tame stuff, but nonetheless most of Moscow’s galleries and museums had previously refused to exhibit the works. Calls for leniency, including a clemency request by the Moscow Patriarchate itself and an open letter to the president, Dmitry Medvedev, by some of Russia’s most prominent artists appear to have been largely ignored.
Harrumph.
