In the long story of blasphemy as crime, the case of the play Corpus Christi and the events of autumn 2012 outside the Chytirio theatre, where the play was staged, are among the most disgraceful moments for Greek politics, the Greek police, and the Greek judiciary. The crucial diference in this case was that for the irst time, ultra-religious circles were aided by a parliamentary party, Golden Dawn. It is noteworthy that the Greek Orthodox Church, which had deemed the play blasphemous, stated that it did not wish for the artists to be prosecuted. What is more, ater the arrest of three actors, the church issued an additional communiqué to make clear that it had not iled a lawsuit and had not authorized anyone to do so. This, of course, did not prevent Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus from iling his own lawsuit, joined not by the oicial church, but by leading MPs of the Nazi party, such as the currently imprisoned Christos Pappas.62 The Chytirio theatre was literally under siege for weeks, as groups of citizens, clergymen and members of Golden Dawn threatened to kill and did actually beat up actors and citizens trying to enter the theatre, and caused damage to the building. At the same time, “religious citizens” iled not one but three motions for provisional protective measures, demanding to cancel the play. Although all such requests were dismissed in the irst instance before the Athens court, the Greek State proved absolutely incapable of securing the artists’ and producers’ fundamental right to stage the play without being severely endangered. Finally, ater at least a month of serious rioting and incidents, the producers decided to suspend performances of the play, as their ability to stage them normally had been seriously compromised. During all this time of violent, public and even televised incidents,63 the police and the prosecuting authorities stood by, abashed and inactive. The highlight of their inaction came with the outrageous moment when a Golden Dawn MP intervened to unarrest a man detained on the street. The overall efect was as though the illegal and violent acts taking place outside the theatre were treated by the authorities as a natural disaster, impossible to prevent or contain. However, the worst thing was that the indiference on the part of the judiciary was, once again, highly selective. Just a few days ater the producers voluntarily stopped the play, the Athens public prosecutor started criminal proceedings for malicious blasphemy and defamation of religion against all artists and producers of the play (the director, actors, lighting technician, choreographer, etc.) – a total of twenty persons – and designated the preliminary investigation as “extremely urgent”. In October 2013, the Athens prosecutor of irst instance, instead of simply iling the case, decided to put the defendants on trial. At the 62. 63. 56 | See http://tvxs.gr/news/ellada/xrysi-aygi-kai-serafeim-katethesan-apo-koinoy-minysikata-toy-corpus-christi. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2J49pItn_Y. This video, where a Golden Dawn MP practices his skills in homophobic and racist verbal abuses, has been all around the web and the world too. In addressing the actors and the citizens that were around the theatre in support of the play, the MP shouts: “you faggots, ass-fuckers, shitty wanker actors, you pussies, your time is coming, you ass-fucked homos, you fucking Albanian ass-holes”. ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG