A Polish news outlet called Super Express is reporting that Behemoth frontman Adam Darski aka Nergal is facing blasphemy charges in his homeland following a Facebook post that was made in late 2019 which showed him stepping on a broken artwork of Virgin Mary.
He has been accused of "offending the religious feelings of four people", and a statement from a spokeswoman of the prosecutor's office in Warsaw says (translated by ThePRP)
‘Adam D. is accused of having on September 25, 2019, acting via the Internet, publicly insulted the object of Christian religious worship in the form of the person of the Mother of God, by placing a photo on the Facebook social network, on its official profile. presenting a damaged picture showing the image of the Mother of God with a shoe-legged figure placed in the place of the indicated figure, which was described by + on the set +, which translated means + on the set +, thus offending the religious feelings of four people. Representatives of Ordo Iuris and the Patriotic Society were informed about Nergal‘s misdemeanor. The Warsaw prosecutor added that during the investigation the victims were interrogated and an expert in the field of religious studies was appointed: -The opinion clearly concludes that treading with a shoe on the image of the Mother of God is an offense against religious feelings.’
This is the post that caused the charges to be filed, with the caption "on the set" referencing the filming of a music video for his Me And That Man project:
Nergal is obviously unhappy with the charges, releasing a statement of his own via Facebook which reads:
Another lawsuit in the process. Reason? In every case the same: offense of RELIGIOUS FEELINGS! Can u imagine this nonsense in XXl century? Poland is mentally soooo fuckin’ behind the civilized Europe that we r literally THE last bastion of so called “blasphemy casus”. Even extremely Catholic Ireland removed this paragraph from constitution lately. It WILL happen in Poland at some point .... and yea, I’m willing to be that stepping stone. FUCK religious fundamentalism in every fuckin hole. And frankly, I’m sure I will win this and EVERY other case. Just wait and see"
Nergal has pled not guilty to the new charge, but will face fines and "restricted freedoms" for up to two years.
Listen to Behemoth now.
