'Offensive' art abuses religious symbols

The curators were deemed guilty of inciting religious enmity and sentenced to pay fines, but not to suffer imprisonment.

“In both Samodurov cases the prosecutor said that he profaned the sacred objects and thus incited religious and ethnic enmity,” said Verkhovsky.

“We are dealing with a substitution here. Profaning religious symbols is not described anywhere in the Russian law, except the Administrative Code."

The problem, Verkhovsky continued, is that the law does not say anything about offending religious feelings. The law says that people should be punished for using religion to incite hatred or to denigrate individuals, and nothing else.

"Offending people with an art exhibit and deliberately denigrating Christians, for example, are different sorts of actions. The pieces shown at the exhibit do not denigrate Christians. One can see denigration of the Christian faith, the Church, Christ Himself – but not of the people.”