Greek authorities arrested Nikos Papadopoulos, a far-right MP with the Niki party, after artworks in Athens’s National Gallery were vandalized. Papadopoulos has been released from custody since his arrest on March 10, according to Ekathimerini.
Papadopoulos was accused of damaging four artworks by Christoforos Katsadiotis, three of them resembling religious icons. On X, Papadopoulos denounced the artworks, writing that he attempted to take down “four sacrilegious images” when he took them off the wall and threw them.
But Papadopoulos claimed that he did not vandalize any works, and per Ekathimerini, Papadopoulos’s lawyer has alleged that the politician was “unlawfully detained.” According to Papadopoulos, two of the artworks “slipped” from his hands as he tried to remove them, causing damage to their frames.
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Previously, he had claimed that Katsadiotis’s pieces “offend religion,” raising controversy within Greece. On X, he wrote that Katsadiotis “desecrates our Virgin Mary, the Mother of us all, her only begotten son Jesus Christ, as well as the Saints of our Church.”
The Katsadiotis works appeared in “The Allure of the Bizarre,” an exhibition that focused on Goya’s “Caprichos” prints and the ways they had moved other artists after him to approach religion in subversive, sometimes satirical ways.
Katsadiotis maintained that he was entitled to approach religious subject matter in the way that he did. “It is worth considering how society (politics) uses religion as a tool to control and corral the masses with threats, fear and obscurantism; how religion often preemptively categorizes believers as either loyal followers or outlaws,” he told Ekathimerini. “Those who do not conform and obey are traditionally warned that they will be judged and condemned to eternal damnation—a clear form of intimidation.”
Greek museums have since issued statements in support of Katsadiotis. The board of the National Gallery said in a statement that it “expresses its confidence in the Management and supports its approved artistic program, ensuring dialogue between different trends, streams and artistic views.”
EMST, Athens’s most important contemporary art museum, said in a statement, “This sinister act is one more stark warning of the rising threat of anti-democratic forces all over the world. It is particularly telling that this incident occurred less than a month after the closure of Democracy, an exhibition marking fifty years since the fall of the Greek military dictatorship.”
Within Greece, the controversy remains ongoing. On Tuesday, Greece’s Orthodox Church condemned Katsadiotis’s work, with the Holy Synod saying in a statement that it “expressed its regret for the content of certain works.” The Holy Synod threatened “appropriate action” in response to the exhibition of these works though it did not provide specifics.
Meanwhile, Papadopoulos has faced consequences in Greek Parliament. Nikitas Kaklamanis, Speaker of Parliament, has said that Papadopoulos will be censured, a move that will see his salary cut in half for a month.