Sakharov Museum director and exhibition curator sentenced to pay around 5 thousand Euros each. The sentence sparks protests from civil society, denouncing the influence of the Moscow Patriarchate. The exhibition contains images deemed blasphemous. The prosecutor had asked for three years in prison. The lawyers announced an appeal.

Moscow (AsiaNews / Agencies) – In the end a verdict has arrived, but neither civil society nor the Russian Orthodox Church are satisfied with it. The story of the controversial exhibition "Banned Religion" - held in Moscow in 2006 - ended with a conviction against the organizers. No jail, just a fine, but the case has inflamed public opinion in Russia, with criticism of the influence of the Moscow Patriarchate on the Moscow Tagansky District Court decision and the threat this poses to freedom of expression in the country. 58 year-old Yuri Samodurov - director of the Sakharov museum which housed the exhibition - and 54 year-old Andrei Yerofeyev - the curator - will have to pay fines for about 5 thousand Euros each. Lawyers for two defendants have already announced they will appeal the sentence.

The prosecutor had sought a three year jail sentence for Samodurov (pictured) and Erofeev, "guilty" of having created a scandal with various transgressive images, including a Christ depicted in a McDonald’s advert with the slogan "this is my body." The ultra-Orthodox organization Narodni Sobor and other groups of believers spoke out against the exhibition. The case had sparked protests abroad. Amnesty International had spoken in defence of Samodurov and Erofeev.

On July 12, while avoiding a prison sentence, the court held, however, the two guilty of acts "aimed at inciting hatred on religious grounds" by organizing an exhibition whose works used a "obscene language".

The case has reignited the controversy - that began in 2004 with the exhibition "Caution, Religion" (see AsiaNews) - over attempts by the Orthodox Church to act as an "ideological and political leader in the country”, even affecting the Civil Justice. The Moscow Patriarchate after the verdict, announced its disappointment at a "sentence too soft" and hoped - said the Head of the Information Department, Legoyda Vladimir - that " in the future such exhibitions are never organized again in Russia ". (NA)  

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