PLOCK, Poland (AP) – Three human rights activists stood trial in Poland on Wednesday for alleged desecration and insulting religious sentiment by adding the LGBT rights movement’s rainbow symbol to posters of a respected Roman Catholic icon and display the modified image in public, also on garbage cans and mobile toilets.
The activists said they made posters that used rainbows to replace the halo in the icon of the Black Madonna and the baby Jesus to protest against what they saw as the hostility of the influential Catholic Church in Poland towards LGBT people. people.
One of the accused, Elzbieta Podlesna, said in court on Wednesday that their actions in Plock in 2019 were spurred by an installation in the St.
The three do not deny that they placed the posters on walls and elsewhere in the church, but do not admit that they placed stickers with the image on garbage cans and toilets. They deny wrongdoing.
Polish media have identified the other accused as Anna Prus and Joanna Gzyra-Iskandar.
The activists could face up to two years in prison if convicted on charges of offending religious sentiment and desecrating the most respected icon of Poland, the Mother of God of Czestochowa, widely known as the Black Madonna of Czestochowa.
The original icon has been housed in the Jasna Gora Monastery in the city of Czestochowa since the 14th century.
A group of fans with rainbow flags and banners with the headline “The Rainbow Gives No Offense” gathered outside the court. A verdict was not expected on Wednesday.
Podlesna was arrested in early 2019 by police at her apartment. She was detained for several hours and questioned about the posters of the icon placed around Plock. A court later said the detention was unnecessary and ordered that she be awarded damages of about $ 2,000.
The case highlighted the clash over social issues in the predominantly Catholic Poland. The country’s right-wing government supports laws against abusive beliefs and symbols. Advocates for LGBT rights say the laws are being used to stifle human rights and freedom of speech.