Crime with meaning

Organizers of the exhibition "Caution, Religion" sentenced to fine

The Tagansky District Court of Moscow yesterday announced a verdict in a scandalous criminal case against the organizers of the exhibition “Beware of Religion!”, who were accused of inciting religious hatred. Externally, the court's verdict has become a classic example of a compromise, which Russian Themis has often resorted to in recent years in cases where the case has a pressing social or political background. Director of the Foundation named after. Andrei Sakharov and the Museum “Peace, Progress and Human Rights” Yuri Samodurov and museum employee Lyudmila Vasilovskaya (pictured) were found guilty, but avoided being sent to prison, as demanded by the prosecutor’s office and the Orthodox community. It was decided to punish them only with rubles - in the form of a fine of 100 thousand rubles “for each”. However, in fact, for the first time in modern Russian history, the court created a precedent when the state, wittingly or unwittingly, had to take the side of the church in the eternal dispute between believers and atheists. And this outcome, despite the court’s desire to satisfy both sides - the accusers and the accused, of course, did not extinguish the passions. This was visible at the Tagansky court building in the very first minutes after the verdict.

"Disgrace!" "Satanists!" "Antichrists!" "Scoundrels!" “Waste of public money!” - shouted about 200 angry pensioners with icons in their hands, gathered at the entrance to the court, expressing the protest of the “Orthodox community” against the too lenient sentence for human rights activists. The defendants themselves and their lawyers left the courtroom, in general, satisfied that they were not sent to prison. However, a little later they also gave the verdict extremely harsh assessments, openly calling it “outrageous and ugly.”

At the exhibition held at the museum. Sakharov in January-February 2003, about 40 works by artists were presented who expressed their attitude to religion in general and Orthodoxy in particular. The exhibits were truly extravagant - a wooden cross on a hill symbolizing Golgotha, instead of the crucified Christ on the cross there was a naked woman, below the inscription: “Beware of hand injuries!”; a model of an Orthodox church made from vodka bottles with onions instead of domes, a Coca-Cola billboard with the face of Christ and the inscription underneath it “This is my blood,” etc. Representatives of Christianity wrote an angry letter to the deputies, and they, in turn, turned to Prosecutor General Ustinov, who ordered an investigation. A criminal case was opened against Yuri Samodurov, Lyudmila Vasilovskaya and artist Anna Mikhalchuk, but they themselves pleaded not guilty, explaining that “the artists, thus, simply wanted to express their attitude towards religion and did not pursue the goal of humiliating or offending the feelings of believers.”

However, the judge in the end completely sided with the prosecutor’s office and the “Orthodox community,” while using vocabulary unique in jurisprudence in the text of the verdict. “The nature of the exhibition was openly political, mocking, blasphemous and mocking Christianity. The director’s actions were carried out with particular cynicism and an insult to Orthodoxy as a whole. The exhibition itself was of a blasphemous nature, as stated in the verdict.” At the same time, the judge dubbed the essentially artistic exhibition a “meaning crime,” citing as an example an American artist who publicly burned the national flag and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Since this was the first time such a precedent had occurred in our country, the prosecutor demanded “only” 3 years for Samodurov, and two years in prison for Vasilovskaya and Mikhalchuk. But the judge, taking into account mitigating circumstances - “positive characteristics from the place of residence, social and human rights activities of the defendants,” but considering that “the selection of paintings deliberately provoked visitors to reject the Christian faith and offended religious feelings,” considered that a fine of 100 thousand rubles to each organizer of the exhibition “Beware of Religion!” It will be enough for Yu. Samodurov and his employee L. Vasilovskaya for inciting religious hatred. Due to the lack of corpus delicti, the third accused, the artist A. Mikhalchuk, completely dropped the charges and was completely acquitted. The court also ordered the return of “all 45 exhibits to the conceptual artists,” while the prosecutor’s office previously asked to destroy these works under the law on physical evidence.

Archpriest Vladimir (Pereslegin), a member of the committee “For the Moral Revival of the Fatherland,” said that “in principle, the Orthodox community is happy with this, albeit lenient, sentence. Our main goal was to condemn the organizers of such an exhibition, which desecrated the feelings of Christians, and not to deprive the “obscurantists” of freedom.”

Lawyer Yuri Shmidt, who represented the interests of Mr. Samodurov, in turn said more sharply: “An ugly, outrageous and completely illegal verdict. Surely it was the result of pressure on the court both from the Orthodox Church and from the secular authorities. The judge had the conscience not to impose real imprisonment on the convicts, but the minimum punishment in the form of a fine does not mean anything - this verdict will be followed by a worldwide scandal. After all, the decision of the Tagansky court created a very dangerous precedent, as in Soviet times, when art was often recognized as anti-Soviet propaganda. This verdict is about an attack on freedom of conscience. But what prevents Orthodox Christians from practicing their religion today? On the contrary, it is representatives of other faiths and atheists who are in an unequal position. It is possible that soon in our passports, instead of the “nationality” column, another one will appear - “religion”. The fact that the judge wrote in his verdict that the exhibition was blasphemous is legally unacceptable wording. But the fact that he gave the example of burning the American flag is good. Good because he completely screwed up here. A court in one of the American states actually once sentenced the artist to life imprisonment for desecration of US state symbols. But a few years later, the US Supreme Court overturned this verdict, and the man was completely acquitted. The court noted that state symbols are not subject to protection through criminal prosecution of citizens. Now there is no such rule in any state. As for yesterday’s verdict, I can guarantee that it will result in shame for our country in the European Court of Human Rights.”

Ekaterina KARACHEVA, Ekaterina BUTORINA