The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has declared inadmissible the action brought by the Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers against Spain for allowing the exhibition of the work “Amen” by the Navarrese artist Abel Azcona, in which the word “Amen” appears. appeared. Pedophilia” written with consecrated hosts. In a final decision, the Strasbourg judges concluded that the lawsuit had not exhausted the national legal process and also rejected the accusation that the Spanish judiciary acted arbitrarily in rejecting the case.
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The events date back to November 2015, when the work Amen was exhibited in Pamplona. It consisted of two photographs depicting the word “pederasty” with hosts and a bowl containing several of the 242 consecrated forms that the artist was said to have collected at various masses from churches in Pamplona and Madrid. The exhibition was organized and paid for by Pamplona’s Ministry of Culture, which refused to withdraw it, saying it was a matter of freedom of expression. The Christian lawyers, who called the work “the greatest desecration in history,” sued both the artist and the city council that approved the exhibition, although the coroner ruled in 2016 that no crime had occurred. The final instance, the Regional Court, concluded that the artist’s intention to commit a crime was not sufficiently proven and that it was clear from his statements on social networks that his main goal was to address the pedophile scandals in the to draw attention to the Catholic Church. reminds the ECHR in its decision.
Trial in Strasbourg
Two years later, the Christian lawyers went to Strasbourg where, based primarily on Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights on freedom of thought, conscience and religion, they claimed that the local authorities “financed, hosted and refused to cancel the event. “Exhibition of a work of art that offends religious feelings and therefore violates its duty of neutrality.” In addition, they explained that the Spanish judicial authorities had refused to prosecute the artist and the city councilor involved, in violation of their duty to protect Christian believers.
Although the ECHR had allowed the application to be processed in 2019, it has now declared it unenforceable. He gives two main reasons for this.
On the one hand, the decision states, the association opted for criminal proceedings “even though the Spanish legal system provided for the possibility of filing a lawsuit for violation of the obligation of religious neutrality in the administrative procedure at issue.” One option would be to add the three judges who analyzed the case, including Spain’s María Elósegui, which would have allowed national administrative courts to “examine the merits of the lawsuit and strike a balance between freedom of expression and the rights of believers.” “Christians.” By failing to do so, the association breached its obligation under the European Convention to first use all available remedies at national level before taking the case to the Court of Justice in Strasbourg.
Furthermore, the ECtHR adds, it concluded that “the conclusion of the national courts that the actions of the artist and the city council did not constitute a crime was not arbitrary.” The European judges also return to the question of that the Christian lawyers had the opportunity to pursue civil proceedings (and that they did not), and therefore consider that there was no negligence on the part of the State in fulfilling its obligation under Article 9 of the Convention to protect believers from attacks on their rights Protect religious freedom.
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