"Cartoon scandal" in St. Petersburg

The Federal Court of the Moskovsky District of St. Petersburg accepted the case "on caricatures of Jesus Christ" for consideration. The plaintiff is an assistant to State Duma deputy Alexander Chuev, political scientist Georg Gabrielyan. He demands that the newspaper "Peterburgskaya Tema" be brought to justice and compensate for the moral damage inflicted on him.

In the spring of 2007, as illustrations for materials about relations between the Church and the state, the newspaper published cartoons where instead of the face of Christ, the face of Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov was depicted.

"I think that the dirty caricature of the Savior offends not only me, as a Christian, but all Christians," G. Gabrielyan said in an address to the editors of the St. Petersburg media.

reports with reference to Regions.ru On September 19, a hearing on this case was to be held, but, as Sedmitsa.ru , the defendants - the leadership of the Peterburgskaya Tema newspaper - did not appear in court. Therefore, the meeting was postponed to the beginning of October.

On October 10, the defendant also did not appear, so the court session was postponed to October 31.

Sources

• The case of caricatures of Jesus Christ accepted for consideration in the federal court of the Moskovsky district of St. Petersburg // Portal-Credo.ru. 2007. September 18.
• The leadership of the newspaper that posted the blasphemous drawings did not appear in court to answer // Week.ru. 2007. September 20. (With reference to Regions.ru.)
• The defendant in the case of caricatures of Christ twice did not appear in the district court of St. Petersburg // Interfax-religion. 2007. October 11.