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Actors from Hitirio to be sued for blasphemy and religious desecration

16 November 2012 / 17:11:12  GRReporter
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After the decision to discontinue the performance of the controversial play "Corpus Christi", its creators and actors have faced legal troubles. They will sit in the dock after the complaint Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus has filed against them. In it, he accuses them of desecrating a religion and blasphemy. The persecution against directors, scriptwriters and actors has been initiated by the Athens prosecutor's office.

The complaint states that the play contains blasphemous messages and hints of homosexual relationships between holy figures of the Christian religion.

The authors decided to discontinue the performances in early November after the violent protests of para-religious organizations and fanatical Christians, in which members and deputies of the xenophobic Golden Dawn party were actively involved.
 
"We had no intention of provoking the "religious sentiments" of anyone, nor to cause tension and even less, to work under strong police presence," the authors of the play said when they announced the discontinuance of the performances. They added that they were obliged to protect the image of Greece, "which is placed at risk because of the play." Furthermore, they confirmed their "faith in orthodoxy and Christianity, which is faith in love and tolerance."

According to the authors, "scenes of violence such as those that took place in front of the theatre on 11 October had not occurred in any of the countries, where the "Corpus Christi" play was presented, with the exception of fanatical Muslims who decided they should issue a death sentence for the author."

"We are not dealing with theatre to replace institutions. But let's think about what happens with the state authorities that are watching in bewilderment the outrageous behaviour of the forces of obscurantism," they said in conclusion.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor’s office has not yet issued an order to initiate criminal persecution of the initiators and participants in the clashes in front of the Hitirio Theatre despite the signal caused by the intervention of the Minister of Justice Antonis Roupakiotis. During the protests, members of para-religious organizations with the help of five members of Golden Dawn mocked the authors and actors of the play in the most shameful way. Some of them even managed to break the police cordon, to break into the theatre and to stop the performance.

In his letter to the Supreme Court prosecutor Ioannis Tentes, the Minister had asked to be informed whether he was aware of the events in front of the theatre and if so, why he did not take any actions. Among the questions, there was a request to the prosecutor to investigate whether "the police officers there had neglected their duties in connection with the release of a citizen, who the police authorities were taking to one of the police buses, from a Golden Dawn deputy."

 

Tags: SocietyTheatrePara-religiousBlasphemyTrialMetropolitan Seraphim
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