State Duma Deputy Calls on Law Enforcement to Investigate Attack on Exhibition

By The Moscow Times

Aug. 17, 2015

Nilov said that the attack cast a shadow on the Russian Orthodox Church and the wider Christian community. Vladimir Filonov / MT

Yaroslav Nilov, head of the State Duma Committee for Social and Religious Organizations, called on law enforcement to investigate the vandalization of sculptures during an art exhibition in the Manezh exhibition space carried out by Orthodox activists last Friday, TASS news agency reported Saturday.

Nilov said that the attack, carried out by members of God's Will, an ultra-conservative right-wing movement led by self-proclaimed "missionary" Dmitry "Enteo" Tsorionov, cast a shadow on the Russian Orthodox Church and the wider Christian community.

In an interview with pro-Kremlin Lenta.ru news website on Monday, Tsorionov said that he would appeal to the State Duma to remove Nilov from parliament.

"It is his personal fault — among others ?€” for the tension in society," he was quoted by Lenta.ru as saying Monday.

Tsorionov said that the exhibition violated the law that protects the feelings of religious believers. He called on Russia's Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar to condemn "those who organize provocative exhibitions that offend Christian sacred objects."

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