Moscow, Russia - Two art exhibitors are considering taking their case to the European Court of Human Rights after a Russian court Monday upheld heavy fines against them for staging a 2007 art show the Russian Orthodox church considered "insulting."
Andrey Yerofeyev and Yuri Samodurov were found guilty in July of inciting religious hatred and violating human dignity for presenting the show, which included: religious icons of caviar; an image of Jesus blended with the logo of a fast food chain; and images of Mickey Mouse as a holy figure.
Russian Orthodox Christians complained about the 2007 show, saying it attacked their religious sensibilities.
And, on Monday, an appeals court upheld a previous ruling that Samodurov would be fined 200,000 rubles (6,550 dollars), while Yerofeyev would be fined 150,000 rubles.
The fines apply only to the two men who exhibited the art, not the artists who created it.
A group of 30 Orthodox church members appeared at the trial, reported Russian media, calling not only for the fines, but for the offending artworks to be destroyed.
"Everything is possible in our country, but I hope it doesn't come to the destruction of the pictures," said Anna Stavizkaya, Yerofeyev's lawyer.
Yerofeyev currently has possession of the art. Stavizkaya said she hopes to appeal the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Yerofeyev's had aimed to challenge political and religious taboos in Russian art through the show. Civil rights activists and leaders of Russian art institutions have criticized the ruling against the two as art censorship.
Yerofeyev has been released from his job as curator of the world famous Tretyakov Gallery since the display.