Advocates of "Taboo Art" organizers to apply to ECtHR

The defence of the convicted organizers of the exhibition "Taboo Art-2006" Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeev plans to apply to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) with a complaint against violations of clients' rights to expression of their opinion. The opponents of the exhibition are going to strive for expulsion of the convicts from Russia.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 12 the Taganka Court of Moscow, having found Andrei Yerofeev and Yuri Samodurov guilty of kindling hatred, sentenced them to fines. Samodurov shall pay 200,000 and Yerofeev - 150,000 roubles. Their advocates have already lodged a brief complaint against the verdict to the Moscow City Court. They will lodge a detailed complaint after they get the text of the verdict. Since challenged, the verdict has not come into its legal force yet.

"The museum managers are under threat of criminal punishment. It means that the use of religious symbols in arts is equated to crimes against faith. This sort of punishment existed in tsarist Russia," Yuri Samodurov gave his comment on the verdict to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

When asked if exhibitions like the "Taboo Art" would be held again, he answered in the affirmative, saying that "they are inevitable."

Leonid Simonovich-Nikshich, leader of a group of Orthodox gonfalon-bearers, who listened to the verdict from the court corridor, went out to his supporters and said: "Fine has no reason at all. They offended our Lord. We'll strive for their imprisonment and then - for extradition out of the country."

In his turn, Oleg Kassin, chairman of the movement "People's Convocation", who had initiated the criminal case and subsequent fines of the organizers of the exhibition "Taboo Art-2006", did not exclude his attempt to attract them to responsibility under the article of "hooliganism". Mr Kassin has treated the verdict of the Taganka Court of Moscow as lenient and promised that the initiators of this criminal case would complain to law enforcement bodies "that the case was not completely investigated."

Meanwhile, Kseniya Kostromina, one of the advocates, expressed today her intention to complain against violation of Samodurov's and Yerofeev's rights.

According to her version, "interference of the state in this case is an obvious violation of the rights guaranteed by the Convention," the RIA "Novosti" reports.

In the meantime, convicts' relatives, lawyers and workers of arts have expressed their desire to help them with paying the fines, the GZT.RU writes.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has treated the Samodurov's and Yerofeev's conviction as illegitimate. The HRW believes that Russia's authorities are incorrectly using the legislation on counteracting extremist activities "for strangling the freedom of self-expression in arts and independent civil activity."