Metal star Nergal to face court in Poland for crime of offending religious feelings

Musician Adam Darski – best known by his stage name “Nergal” as lead singer of Polish extreme metal band Behemoth – will appear in court on charges of offending religious feelings, a crime in Poland that carries a prison sentence of up to two years.

The news marks the latest twist in a long-running case stemming from an image Darski posted on social media in 2019 showing his foot stamping on the face of a picture of the Virgin Mary.

Prosecutors were notified by Ordo Iuris, an ultraconservative legal group, and an organisation called the Patriotic Society (Towarzystwo Patriotyczne) that Darski had “offended the religious feelings of four people”. One of those individuals was a local politician from Poland’s conservative ruling coalition.

After interviewing the aggrieved parties and consulting an expert in religious studies, prosecutors concluded that the crime of offending religious feelings had taken place and indicted Darski.

In 2021, using a form of ruling that can be made without a full trial, Warsaw-Mokotów district court found the musician guilty and issued him with a fine and costs of 18,500 zloty (€3,945). However, both Darski – who denied the charges – and prosecutors used their right to appeal for a full trial.

In August 2021, the same court, though with a different composition of judges, ruled that proceedings should be discontinued on the basis that Darski had warned users that his social media profiles may contain religiously offensive content, reported state broadcaster TVP.

However, that decision was in turn challenged by Ordo Iuris. In December 2021, Warsaw district court (which is different from Warsaw-Mokotów district court) approved that appeal and deemed that the case should proceed to trial.

At the first hearing, held in January this year, judge Rafał Stępak announced that there should be consideration of whether proceedings should again be discontinued.

As justification, he pointed to a ruling issued by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in September last year, which found that the conviction of another Polish music star, pop singer Dorota Rabczewska – who goes under the stage name Doda – had violated her right to freedom of expression.

But yesterday, Warsaw-Mokotów district court found that the ECHR jurisprudence requires certain findings to be established, for which a hearing is necessary, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP). It, therefore, ordered a hearing to take place on 29 May, at which Darski will be questioned.

The case is the latest in a series of legal problems Darski and Behemoth have faced in their homeland, where the majority of the population identify as Catholic.

In 2008, he was accused of offending religious feelings for destroying a copy of the Bible during a concert in Gdynia. However, prosecutors eventually dropped the case, as they did when he later faced accusations for setting crosses on fire during another concert.

Last year, in another case, Darski and two other people associated with his band were found not guilty of insulting Poland’s coat of arms by adorning it with horns, skulls, a serpent and an inverted cross. Under another of Poland’s many “insult laws”, insulting a symbol of state is a crime that carries a prison sentence of up to one year.

Main image credit: mzagerp/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.