Yesterday, February 24th, saw Behemoth frontman Adam “Nergal” Darski officially launch the ‘Ordo Blasfemia‘—a campaign which aims to raise funds via GoFundMe to fight back against charges of ‘Offending Religious Feelings’ in his native Poland. Nergal himself has faced the charge several times throughout his career and most recently was found guilty for posting a picture online of a person standing on a painting of the Virgin Mary.
Earlier this month a Warsaw court ruled that Nergal was guilty of the aforementioned charge and was ordered him pay a fine of 15,000 zloty with associated legal fees of 3,500 zloty, which roughly equates to about $4980 USD. Nergal has rejected the guilty plea however with the case now scheduled to go to trial. His alleged offence was brought to the courts by the Ordo luris, an ultra-conservative group, and another organization dubbed the Patriotic Society.
According to Nergal, his ‘Ordo Blasfemia‘ campaign seeks to help him in that upcoming legal fight as well as other artists and such who have faced the charge. Should Nergal ultimately be found guilty, the criminal charge will create issues for him when it comes to touring internationally.
Speaking recently with The Irish Times, Nergal elaborated on his constant battles with the religiously minded authorities in Poland:
“I don’t think the public know the details of the level of harassment I have been through. It is getting monstrous, and it is a growing tide of censorship and harassment. Every few weeks I have to check myself in at the police and go for different hearings and spend a fortune on lawyers with all the costs around court cases.
I am being the perfect target. The Polish authorities just pick on me. It is not a secret that a prosecution officer has me as his favourite scapegoat. He follows my Instagram account. Can you imagine that? It’s insane and absolutely unprecedented.”
“I am being made a criminal for posting a fucking photograph on Instagram. In Ireland you have been through all this before, but now you are a secular state. Now I give Ireland as an example of what Poland should follow in order to evolve.”
He later went on to say:
“We are going backwards in time, more backward thinking. It is a violation of the most basic human laws. It is not just me. There are different artists being harassed by police and self-proclaimed censors. They forget that Poland is still a pluralisatic country. It is not a Catholic or a totalitarian state. We are a democratic and pluralistic democracy, which means we can say what we want about other religions. The authorities are trying to censor us and shut us down.”
“We can’t be part of the European Union if we are upholding different standards. We have a blasphemy law, and we are the only country in Europe that still holds to that law – and that is insane. That is an excuse for all of those people, all those opportunists. I must win, because we can’t see my case becoming a precedent. People like myself need to be protected to freely express themselves.”
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