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Femen activist fined 1,200 euros

December 3, 2014

A court has fined a Femen activist 1,200 euros for baring her breasts in a church last Christmas. The verdict came almost a year after Josephine Witt climbed topless onto the altar of the Cologne Cathedral during a Mass.

https://p.dw.com/p/1Dytk
Femen
Image: picture alliance/Oliver Berg

The Cologne District Court found Josephine Witt guilty on Wednesday on the charge of "disturbance of religious practice" and fined her 1,200 euros ($1,480). The Hamburg student, now 21 years old, had painted the words "I am God" on her chest and scaled the altar of the Cologne Cathedral on December 25, 2013.

Jumping on the altar was a show of freedom of expression, Witt said. "I did not want to harass anyone," she added. "Even Jesus is hanging half naked on the cross."

Judge Gerd Krämer called Witt's deed "targeted ideological expression" and said she had "deliberately and grossly disturbed worship."

After cathedral guards led her away on Christmas 2013, Witt said she had staged her protest in light of the Catholic Church's attitudes toward women and the anti-abortion stance of Joachim Meisner, then the archbishop of Cologne. She faced three years in prison.

Femen Aktivistin Kölner Dom Deutschland 2013
Few had expected Witt's display when they turned up to Mass last ChristmasImage: picture alliance/Elke Lehrenkrauss

Witt's fine was not the only legal fallout from her protest. One worshipper slapped her after the iconic cathedral's staff pulled her down from the altar on that Christmas morning. The churchgoer later settled the legal case over the blow for 500 euros.

'Completely overblown'

Femen, which was founded in Ukraine in 2008, has compared Witt's case to the trial against the Russian activists Pussy Riot, who had conducted a protest in an Orthodox church in Moscow. Despite protests from Germany and other countries, three of Pussy Riot's members were imprisoned.

Cologne Cathedral provost Norbert Feldhoff, however, dubbed Femen's comparison as "completely overblown," saying that the German and Russian justice systems were hardly comparable. "This isn't just about the Catholic Church, it's about free practice of religion in its widest sense, it's about living together peacefully."

After the group's founders fled Ukraine following attacks in 2013, Femen is now based in Paris. Several international branches have become known for organizing topless protests against a host of subjects, including sexism, homophobia and sex tourism.

In November, Femen protested the pope at the Vatican.

mkg/sms (AFP, dpa, epd)