SSI english   The BLUTGEIL Case    Video-Burning!    Prison for satirical Video!
 
 
 
 
SSI Postfach 2122, CH-8031 Zürich  
Tel: +41-1-262 6552 (nachmittags)                                 www.blutgeil.com  
 ssi-media@gmx.ch  
Zürich, March 9th 2000
 
Democracy for the Advanced, Part VII, Chapter 4
    
"A democracy must allow room for many forms of artistic expression, even those that government officials consider in "bad taste", or that express a viewpoint critical of the government and the police." (From a letter of the National Campaign for Freedom of Expression (NCFE), www.ncfe.net to Supreme Court, Zurich)  
   
"Politically motivated restrictions on artistic content have no place in a democratic society."  
(letter NCFE to Staatsanwalt Dr. Hohl)  
   
"The continued persecution of BLUTGEIL calls into question Switzerland's international reputation as a free and open society." (letter NCFE to Staatsanwalt Dr. Hohl)  
   
a.k.a. The "BLUTGEIL Case", The Final Chapter, Part 5
   
Going to prison
for art!

Dear Friends of Bad Taste  
   
Two more weeks, and it happens: Swiss Democracy loses its face!  
   
Generations grew up conscious of no books being burned and no one sent to prison for writing one in Switzerland.  
   
These times are over now! After the official burning of the satirical video BLUTGEIL in '96, the first of the 4 sentenced filmmakers has now received the invitation to prison for March 20th.  

33 days for a 22 minute video. He won't be the last Swiss film artist put to jail: In Switzerland, almost under the exclusion of the public, "suspicious" videos get confiscated from both private homes and public shops on a regular basis, while people get sentenced before court, for only watching (Or even enjoying! Or, gasp, even producing!!!)  videos that happen not to meet the "authoritative taste of the majority", as attorney general Dr. Hohl put it in the BLUTGEIL pilot process.  

...to be continued...  Will more than 5 books be allowed in jail? Cavity search the easy way... Will the chief of the political police show up in person again? What to do when the rubber-glove bursts? In Switzerland, do unwealthy artists also have rights? What will the chief of the prison do against it? Can eating healthy food be a legally punishable crime?  Are dissidents by definition better people?  Stay tuned when right now just after the commercials... don't miss it!  

Now online at www.blutgeil.com  

Kindest regards  SSI

 

 

 
SSI english   The BLUTGEIL Case    Video-Burning!    Prison for satirical Video!
 
 
 
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