The National Gallery of Greece is reportedly proceeding with a €500,000 lawsuit against Nikos Papadopoulos, the former MP of the right-wing populist party “Niki,” in connection with the vandalism of artworks during a recent exhibition.
According on the television channel MEGA the Gallery is filing an additional lawsuit against Papadopoulos, following the incident on March 10 when he entered the exhibition “The Allure of the Stranger” with an associate and damaged works by artist Christoforos Katsadiotis.
The National Gallery has not commented publicly on the specific legal details but is reported to be seeking damages for the incident, which involved the destruction of protective glass and the removal of artworks deemed offensive by Papadopoulos.
Papadopoulos, speaking on MEGA responded to the legal action by saying: “The 500,000 [euros] that these gentlemen want from me who are putting up the profane works that directly insult the Virgin Mary are within the framework of my financial extermination, since the character assassination preceded it. Then comes the political extermination.” He continued, “They cut half my salary for the profane projects I downloaded. And I did well to take them down, may God grant me the right to take them down again.”
Referring to the lawsuit, he added: “500,000 euros is not a very large sum for Orthodox Christians. We are 10 million. From half a euro to put in all Christians, we have raised five hundred thousand. We are not afraid of their fines, we are not afraid of anything.”
Papadopoulos was arrested and charged with aggravated property damage following the incident, during which he was heard shouting that the exhibition was “an insult to religion.”
The MP’s actions were directed at artworks featured in the exhibition “The Allure of the Bizarre – A Survey of Greek Art,” inspired by the surreal works of Francisco Goya. In a letter to the National Gallery and in a formal question submitted to the Minister of Culture prior to the incident, Papadopoulos described the exhibition as containing “a work by a Greek artist that flagrantly offends the Orthodox Christian faith.”
Following the event, on May 5, Papadopoulos was removed from the Niki Parliamentary Group by decision of party leader Dimitris Natsios. According to the party’s announcement, the expulsion was based on Article 9.4 of its Statute, which pertains to the loss of membership in cases of significant misconduct. The final decision regarding his status will be made by the party’s Ethics Committee.
Source: Tovima.com
