Behemoth won the legal battle against the Polish government.
The group triumphed over claims that they insulted the Polish coat of arms. They celebrated it with the following words on Instagram:
“ANOTHER VICTORY FOR ORDO BLASFEMIA! Thanks to your immense support and donations, we have once again overcome these superstitious bullies! After 8 years of NONSENSE, The Regional Prosecutor’s Office of Gdansk has withdrawn its prosecution/persecution of Behemoth for allegedly insulting the Polish emblem.”
They added:
“We love and honour our beautiful country in Poland and we are disgusted by the claim put forward purely out of Christian spite. With that said, we are very proud to announce the Emblem design will be making its return to the Behemoth Webstore exclusively, once all proceedings have concluded. Once again, THANK YOU for your undying support! Hail Satan. Hail Freedom.”
In 2017, Behemoth’s Adam ‘Nergal’ Darski, merch designer Rafal Wechterowicz, and webmaster Maciej G. were accused by the Polish government of insulting the Polish coat of arms on a T-shirt. The case was dropped twice before reappearing this week.
What Did The Goverment Say About The Decision?
The Polish government posted its decision online, which The PRP translated. The ruling from July 26 says Behemoth didn’t use the Polish coat of arms, so they can’t be sued for it.:
“Article 28, section 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland states that the emblem of the Republic of Poland is the image of a white eagle with a crown in a red field. The above provision is further specified in the Act of 31 January 1980 in Article 2, section 1, where it is stated that the emblem of the Republic of Poland is ‘the image of a white eagle with a golden crown on its head turned to the right, with spread wings, a golden beak, and talons, placed in a red field of the shield’. Referring the above, very precise definition of the emblem to the disputed graphic, the Prosecutor found that the disputed graphic is an artistic creation, but is not the emblem of the Republic of Poland.”
The statement continued:
“Thus, in this case, there is no subject matter that could be affected by the accused’s alleged causative act. In other words, the accused could not have insulted the coat of arms of the Republic of Poland, because the graphic in question was not the coat of arms. It should also be emphasized that the analysis of the creative process of the disputed artistic installation has shown beyond any doubt that the discussed product was not created as a result of transforming the coat of arms of the Republic of Poland, and at most refers to the coat of arms.”
Despite winning the original case, the matter has been reopened a few times before. Nergal previously criticized the decision, arguing that reopening the case was a waste of resources and showed a lack of common sense. He also noted the accusations of being anti-Polish, saying the time and money spent on the case could have been better used elsewhere.
You can see the photos they shared on IG below.
Photo Credit: Behemoth – Instagram