Agence France Presse reports on the verdict of a Russian judge in the country’s trial of two curators for a exhibition they mounted:
Art expert Andrei Yerofeyev and former museum director Yury Samodurov were fined respectively 200,000 rubles (6,483 dollars) and 150,000 rubles (4,862 dollars) but escaped jail sentences. […] The exhibition insulted the feelings of religious believers and was motivated by a “criminal intent” on the part of the accused men, the judge said. […] Prominent Moscow gallery owner Marat Guelman called the guilty verdict “unexpected” since it followed criticism of the trial from the culture minister and even a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church.
“I thought this was a signal that reason would prevail and they would be acquitted,” Guelman told AFP.
“This is a very difficult day today. The people who initiated this simply do not realise how terrible the consequences will be.” […]
However Oleg Kassin, a representative of the Council of the People that brought the complaint, defended the legal action saying he had been disgusted by the exhibition which contained “anti-Christian” images.
“If you like expressing yourself freely, do it at home, invite some close friends,” he told AFP.
