From Gazeta Prawna, with many thanks to my father Vladimir and brother Sasha for the translation from Polish:
The Gdynia district prosecutor’s office has accused Adam Darski, the leader of the death metal band Behemoth, of defamation of religious sensibilities….The decision to accuse the musician was announced … Monday by Gdynia District Prosecutor’s Office head Marzanna Majstrowicz…. [Darski] is threatened with two years’ imprisonment….
The case concerns a concert in September 2007 in the club “The Ear” in Gdynia, during which Darski tore up the Bible and scattered its fragments among the audience. Then the [fragments] were to be burned by fans of the band. The singer of Behemoth also [said] that the Catholic Church is “a criminal sect.” …
The first proceedings in this case were officially initiated in February 2008 based on reports about the Behemoth concert to the media by Ryszard Nowak, President of the National Committee of Defense Against Sects. Then Adam Darski, questioned as a witness, told investigators that tearing the Bible was part of his artistic work. The Behemoth leader also explained that his goal was not to offend anyone’s religious sensibilities…. [T]he investigation [did not lead to a prosecution] because Nowak was the only one who considered himself “injured” in this case (Polish law requires at least two people in such a situation).
Investigators from Gdynia again took up events at a Behemoth concert in January of this year, after the prosecution filed an application in this case [from] four Pomeranian PiS (Law and Justice Party) representatives…. During the hearings, which took place in February of this year, all of the representatives unanimously declared that they watched a film of the concert and the behavior of the Behemoth leader offended their religious sensibilities.
In the ongoing case the prosecutor is also investigating another [matter] connected with the Behemoth leader … on the report of Ryszard Nowak, related to a work of Adam Darski’s named “Praise to the killers of St. Adalbert” [in Polish St. Wojciech]. Nowak accuses the musician of “publicly praising the killing of St. Adalbert (the patron saint of Poland).”
Thanks to Conrad W. Deitrick for the pointer to the Polish article, and to an English-language story on the subject.
James N. Gibson says:
Didn’t Sinéad O’Connor, highly praised at the time, finish her song on SNL and then tear up a picture of the pope. What ever happened to her?
March 10, 2010, 4:37 pmTK75 says:
Truly sad and pathetic. Who is actually harmed by the ravings of an idiot? Is hurting someone’s feelings or offending their sensibilities really worthy of punishment by the powers of the state? There is an old saying I am about to badly paraphrase – the best way to combat hatred and ignorance is to allow it to expose itself for all to see.
How long until this nonsense makes it across the Atlantic to our nation? (aside from where it already occurs on college campuses). We have already seen the slippery slope this leads down where critiques of Islamic terrorism are silenced with cries of Islamophobia…
March 10, 2010, 4:40 pmKenB says:
Might this incident prove instructive to those supporting censorship of speech critical of elements of Islam? For that to happen, one would have to be receptive to instruction.
March 10, 2010, 4:50 pmOperationCounterstrike says:
So I’m not allowed to engage in defamation of religion in Poland. OK, but can I engage in DEFECATION of religion? Is that ok?
Plop! Oh look, it’s the Koran! In the original Arabic!
March 10, 2010, 5:23 pmSuperSkeptic says:
Well, if we permit defamation claims at all, why not defamation-on-religion?
When you start censoring people, it’s kinda hard to say “well, you shouldn’t be censored for that.”
March 10, 2010, 5:32 pmSteve says:
Well, if we permit defamation claims at all, why not defamation-on-religion?
How come you can burn a book, but you can’t burn a person?
March 10, 2010, 5:38 pmtroll_dc2 says:
You can do whatever you want. Don’t let any worry about what people would think of you stop you.
March 10, 2010, 5:40 pmMichael says:
I hope you didn’t post that from Poland.
March 10, 2010, 5:49 pmApuleius Platonicus says:
There is no freedom of religion without the freedom to blaspheme.
March 10, 2010, 5:53 pmKullervo says:
Some more commentary from the heavy metal scene (that might not be work-safe), including a video of the biblical destruction:
http://www.metalsucks.net/2010/03/09/behemoths-nergal-faces-up-to-two-years-in-prison-for-destruction-of-a-bible/
March 10, 2010, 6:02 pmDennis N says:
One more incident to make me happy I’m an American.
March 10, 2010, 6:04 pmChristopher Cooke says:
“Didn’t Sinéad O’Connor, highly praised at the time, finish her song on SNL and then tear up a picture of the pope. What ever happened to her?”
I heard she was hustled off to Gitmo, interrogated “aggressively” through “enhanced” techniques, but not “tortured” (water boarding is fine, and her hair didn’t get messy because she is bald, so it was humane per some Berkeley Law Prof).
But then one of the AQ7 got her off on a technicality. F–ng lawyers, God Praise Liz Cheney!
March 10, 2010, 8:12 pmFXKLM says:
Behemoth is the greatest Polish metal band out there. This is really unfortunate news.
March 10, 2010, 8:25 pmMike McDougal says:
People aren’t flammable.
March 10, 2010, 8:45 pmMichael says:
You’re just not doing it right.
March 10, 2010, 9:24 pmPaul McKaskle says:
The European Court on Human Rights has upheld banning or even confiscation of materials that denigrate religion as not being covered by Article 10, Freedom of Expression. See, Otto Preminger Institute v. Austria, 19 E.H.R.R. 34 (1995) and Wingrove v. United Kingdom, 24 E.H.R.R. 1, (1997). Poland is a member of the ECHR. So, Poland’s actions are not out of the norm for Europe.
March 10, 2010, 9:32 pmJamesWN says:
@Paul McKaskle
March 10, 2010, 9:40 pmMore troubling than the ECTHR’s holding in the blasphemy case of Otto Preminger Institute was its reasoning. The court essentially reasoned that freedom of religion entails a right to protection from insults to religious feelings.
If the Supreme Court reverses the 4th circuit in the Phelps case, the state could accomplish indirectly what it may not do indirectly by the operation of blasphemy law.
OperationCounterstrike says:
The solution to Phelps is not litigation. It is ASSASSINATION.
Someone should walk up to him while he’s picketing a funeral and shoot him to death.
March 10, 2010, 9:48 pmJamesWN says:
@OperationCounterstrike
March 10, 2010, 10:08 pmSo do you also think that the solution to the case of insults to religious feelings is assasination of the musician rather than litigation?
OperationCounterstrike says:
JamesWN, I’m not making a technical argument. I just think it would be so much FUN to follow the story if someone were to go up to Phelps in mid-picket and put a bullet in his eye.
Sure, he’d have to be prosecuted, the law’s the law, but we’d all love the shooter in our hearts.
March 10, 2010, 11:13 pmArthur Kirkland says:
For an ostensibly libertarian-friendly, academic blog, this site attracts a remarkable number of deranged right-wingers.
March 10, 2010, 11:20 pmStrict says:
It’s Euro-censorship.
At least Behemoth sticks to the traditional metal themes of murder and anti-Christianity, and aren’t goddamn Nazis like Graveland.
Behemoth’s “Satanica” is a fine album. But Lux Occulta’s “Dionysos” is the finest Polish metal album. :)
I guess they are extra sensitive in Poland about religious hatred because of the history of extreme violence there. :(
March 10, 2010, 11:42 pmStrict says:
Or maybe Vader’s “De Profundiis” is the best Polish metal album?
March 10, 2010, 11:43 pmAndyinNc says:
Wow, I thought metal reached maximum suckage in the early 90s. I was wrong.
March 11, 2010, 1:02 amStrict says:
I’m not sure what’s more ironic, that St. Adalbert himself was killed for defamation of religious sensibilities [and a person now is being charged with defamation of religious sensibilities for praising the killing of St. Adalbert], or that a Catholic Archibishop recently stated that religious tolernance is not a Christian virtue.
March 11, 2010, 1:26 amJames N. Gibson says:
This is what you have to tolerate for it to be an Ostensibly Libertarian-friendly blog. You have to allow both the deranged right-wingers, and the deranged left-wingers.
March 11, 2010, 1:42 amSteve P. says:
Well, more deranged right-wingers than left-wingers. From my experience, most of the left-wingers here tend to be rather moderate on the scale. There are plenty of deranged left-wingers in the U.S., of course, but they aren’t usually regulars of the Volokh Conspiracy.
And this case makes me appreciate the protections under the First Amendment even more.
March 11, 2010, 1:58 amNorthern Dave says:
Frankly, things like the Krakow incident involving Gorgoroth in 2004 are revolting and breach public decency. Execution seems a reasonable solution.
March 11, 2010, 7:33 amGaryM says:
Europe is slowly sliding back into the Middle Ages as far as religious freedom is concerned.
March 11, 2010, 10:22 amFXKLM says:
No, no. Behemoth’s Sventevith is finest Polish metal album.
March 11, 2010, 10:58 amStrict says:
“Frankly, things like the Krakow incident involving Gorgoroth in 2004 are revolting and breach public decency. Execution seems a reasonable solution.”
Whatever you say, Zawahiri. I suppose you think we should execute Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, W.A.S.P., Marilyn Manson and GWAR for their bloody stage antics, too? [GG Allin is already dead.]
The performed a concert for adults at a private venue. The audience didn’t pay to see Raffi or Erick Traplin, they paid to see Gorgoroth, whose albums are called “Antichrist,” “Pentagram,” “Under the Sign of Hell.” What you expect – lullabies? If you find them revolting, don’t go see them. Hundreds of years ago people found Handel’s “Semele” to be blasphemous and revolting and against “public decency.” Even back then people weren’t calling for his execution.
March 11, 2010, 11:22 amRoger the Shrubber says:
You’re so naive.
March 11, 2010, 11:33 amA. Criminal says:
But MASS makes the finest metal polish.
March 11, 2010, 11:39 amMartinned says:
I hope this (again) puts to rest the strange impression my friends across the pond seem to have that such blasphemy laws are a left-wing muslim-hugger thing. The vast majority of enactments in this area are motivated by christian-democratic/conservative politicians looking to impress their base.
Admittedly, the same cannot always be said of individual prosecutions, but that’s prosecutorial independence for ya.
March 11, 2010, 11:43 amGaryM says:
Martinned: It’s a case of strange bedfellows. Much as conservative Christians and theocratic Muslims may despise each other, they have a common cause in supporting anti-blasphemy laws.
March 11, 2010, 12:33 pmalittlesense says:
Mike McDougal: People aren’t flammable.
They are if they’re made of wood. (Monty Python reference)
March 11, 2010, 12:34 pmStrict says:
“It’s a case of strange bedfellows. Much as conservative Christians and theocratic Muslims may despise each other, they have a common cause in supporting anti-blasphemy laws.”
Of course. But
1. These laws were put in place by conservative Christians, not by theocratic Muslims (how many theocratic Muslims are there in Poland? 3?).
2. These laws were put in place with the intention of protecting conservative Christians, not theocratic Muslims. If theocratic Muslims are protected by them, that is incidental and accidental.
3. These laws are being enforced by conservative Christians, not by theocratic Muslims.
It’s not quite right to say that the conservative Christians in Poland are in bed with the theocratic Muslims, when there aren’t any theocratic Muslims around.
It’s also not quite right to say that theocratic Muslims have an interest in prosecuting anti-Christian blasphemy. If I’m getting the right idea about what you mean by “theocratic Muslim,” it seems that they would be some of the main perpetrators of anti-Christian blasphemy.
March 11, 2010, 12:41 pmDennis N says:
To quote a f(r)iend of mine:
Build a man a fire, and you warm him for a night.
March 11, 2010, 2:21 pmSet a man on fire, and you warm him for his whole life.
WilliamP says:
This is hardly new for the metal community in Europe. As several have mentioned, Gorgoroth was targeted with a similar prosecution (though they went quite a bit further than the fairly tame and mainstream Behemoth), at least two members of Cradle of Filth have been arrested for wearing their infamous “Jesus is a C**t” shirts in England and Italy (not to mention two prosecutions for the same shirt here in the US), and theres the whole Norwegian black metal scene in the early 90s. The music has always focused on seeing how far one can go, why not the performances as well?
March 11, 2010, 2:46 pmRoger the Shrubber says:
Jesus was a Celt?!? Weird. But you’d think the English would go for that.
March 11, 2010, 3:27 pmSteve2 says:
Personally, my favorite Behemoth is “Chant for Ezkaton”… and I’m willing to guess I’m one of the few regular VC readers who’s actually seen Behemoth live.
I long for the day a U.S. President addresses the UN with the words “Any attempt to impose a legal regime contrary to the letter or spirit of the 1st Amendment upon the people of the United States will be treated as an act of war.”
March 11, 2010, 7:18 pmElliot says:
Does Poland have a tradition of free expression?
March 11, 2010, 9:30 pmpetB says:
You may be right but you are probably not.
The incident should be understood in context. Poland tries to internally present itself as deeply catholic country, with 95% citizens claim to be catholics, but in neighboring Czech republic over 60% of citizens claim to be atheists. In such circumstances it is not so surprising the countries have some laws that could be used to defuse potentially very dangerous conflicts.
If you read it carefully, it does not seem the DP was very eager to prosecute the case, rather the members of PiS party (mis)used the law to get some free publicity. I would not be surprised if charges would be silently dropped after next elections.
Another point to understand is that unlike litigation in US (about what I do not know anything) the litigation in Poland is cheap, the courts are slow (the case may get to court in several years) so the accusation itself does not present any imminent thread – material or physical – to Behemoth or Adam Darski.
March 12, 2010, 6:07 pmBrad Zimmerman says:
A few comments from someone living in Poland:
– PiS is the party of the elderly, farmers and, frankly, xenophobes, nationalists and other fringe crazies. They tend and their supporters tend to be thin-skinned so this is par for the course for them.
– I doubt the charges will be dropped. PiS has no reason or motive to back down from this. It’s possible the band’s lawyers can file a motion to have it dismissed but, again, there’s no reason for a judge to allow something like that.
– Going to court here is cheap from the US/western Europe perspective but not from the Polish perspective. It costs PiS nothing to claim they were offended but the lawyer’s and court’s fees for the band will not be trivial.
– The courts ARE slow (part of the reason why they are also not very cheap)… So petB is correct, the accusation does not mean jail time or a fine any time soon.
Greetings from Krakow, Poland
March 13, 2010, 7:12 amWilliamP says:
Given the history of the black metal movement one wonders whether this is a wise move for the PiS, crazy as they may be. I suspect that the PiS might find themselves more seriously aggrieved in the future should members of Behemoth make public statements about how hard this prosecution is for them. I’d keep the fire department’s number handy if I were them.
March 14, 2010, 12:29 amRyszard Nowak and the Committee for the Defence Against Sects « Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion says:
[...] is also currently gunning for a performer named Adam Darski, who uses the stage name “Nergal” and whose band is [...]
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