German weekly magazine Focus has gone on trial in Athens over a satirical cover of Ancient Greek goddess Venus raising her middle finger to European leaders, symbolically presenting recession-hit Greece ignoring other Member States.
The Focus February 2010 cover, titled as “Cheats in the European Family” depicted the famous Venus de Milo statue, draped in a Greek flag, making the insulting gesture.
As mentioned in the indictment, the Focus-cover “displays photos of the ancient statue of Aphrodite as deformed, i.e. dirty, a torn flag of the Greek state covering the body of this statue from the waist down, thus altering the meaning of the flag as a symbol of the state. ”
According to AP, the German magazine’s publisher and another twelve journalists have been charged with defamation and insulting a national symbol but none of the defendants appeared in court on Tuesday after denying the charges made by a group of Greek lawyers. The charges carry a maximum two-year sentence.
The trial will resume on December 9.
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