![Priests at a citizens protest in main Athens' Syntagma Square [ARCHIVE MATERIAL 20110608 ]](/webimages/foto_large/2012/11/16/4560142a3858cd356cbcc2e02853bf2f_160253.jpg)
Priests at a citizens protest in main Athens' Syntagma Square [ARCHIVE MATERIAL 20110608 ]
(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, NOVEMBER 16 - The Athens' public prosecutor's office on Friday charged the organizers, producers and cast of 'Corpus Christi' with blasphemy following a lawsuit filed by Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus, as Kathimerini on line reports. Directed by Albanian-born Laertis Vasiliou, Terrence McNally's play had been staged at the Hytirio Theater in down town Athens. The play depicted Jesus Christ and his Apostles as gay. Protests by members of far-right Golden Dawn and religious groups had cancelled the play's Athenian premiere on two difference occasions, before the production had been pulled down entirely following more reaction from extreme nationalist and religious groups. "It was not our intention to provoke 'religious sentiment' or to create tensions," noted the play's organizers in a statement following the end of the performances.
A trial date has not yet been set. If found guilty, Vasiliou and the other defendants could face several months in jail.
(ANSAmed).
