BLABBERMOUTH.NET
According to
Notes From Poland,
BEHEMOTH frontman
Adam "Nergal" Darski has been convicted for offending religious feelings by a court in Warsaw. The charges stemmed from an image the Polish musician posted on social media showing a foot stamping on a picture of the
Virgin Mary.
Darski was ordered to pay a fine of 15,000 złoty (approximately $4,000) and court costs of almost 3,500 zloty (approximately $942). However, since
Darski has contested the judgement, the case will now go to trial.
After
Darski shared the image on his social media in September 2019, an ultraconservative legal group,
Ordo Iuris, and an organization called the
Patriotic Society (Towarzystwo Patriotyczne) notified prosecutors that
Darski had "offended the religious feelings of four people," including a local politician from Poland’s conservative ruling coalition.
"In the course of proceedings, the aggrieved parties were questioned and they clearly stated that their religious feelings were offended," said the spokeswoman for Warsaw district prosecutor's office,
Aleksandra Skrzyniarz.
Prosecutors also consulted an expert in religious studies, whose "opinion clearly concludes that treading with a shoe on the image of the Mother of God is an offence against religious feelings,"
Skrzyniarz added.
Article 196 of Poland's penal code says that "Whoever offends the religious feelings of other persons by publicly insulting an object of religious worship, or a place designated for public religious ceremonies, is liable to pay a fine, have his or her liberty limited, or be deprived of his or her liberty for a period of up to two years."
This is not the first time
Nergal has encountered legal problems in Poland related to his social media activities. Back in January 2018, it was announced that
Nergal was being formally charged by Polish authorities in a case involving
BEHEMOTH's
"Republic Of The Unfaithful" tour artwork and merchandise, which was said to be "insulting" to the national coat of arms of Poland, a stylized white eagle with a golden beak and talons, and wearing a golden crown, in a red shield.
Nergal and
Maciej G., who, as the band's webmaster, promoted the tour online, were accused of publicly affronting the Polish national emblem, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison. Also charged was
Rafał Wechterowicz, the graphic artist who worked on the
BEHEMOTH artwork.
Three months later,
Nergal posted an update via
Instagram, revealing that "all the absurd charges" against him were "dismissed."
In 2011,
Nergal was acquitted in Poland on charges he insulted religious sentiment when he called the Catholic Church "the most murderous cult on the planet" during the band's September 2007 performance in Gdynia and tore up a copy of the Bible, calling it "a book of lies."
