Poland: Metal singer cleared over Bible-ripping performance

By Marta Cooper / 19 August 2011

A Polish judge has found a death metal singer not guilty of offending religious feeling, ruling that his act of ripping up a Bible during a show was a form of artistic expression. Adam Darski, who goes by the stage name Nergal and is the frontman for Behemoth, was charged after he tore up the book during a 2007 concert in Gdynia, northern Poland. He was cleared by a court last year but prosecutors appealed the verdict, though Judge Krzysztof Wieckowski said that the court had no intention of limiting freedom of expression or the right to criticise religion.