Zurich councilor indicted for shooting at Madonna and child poster
The Zurich public prosecutor's office confirmed the indictment of Sanija Ameti to The Associated Press on Monday. Her actions in September caused an uproar, prompting her to resign from the local leadership of the Green-Liberal party. Ameti is now listed as an independent on the website of the municipal council.
A redacted copy of the indictment, posted by the activist group Mass Voll, said Ameti was accused of 'disturbing religious freedom' and that prosecutors were seeking a fine and penalty equivalent to 12,500 Swiss francs (about $15,600).
The Swiss criminal code says anyone who 'publicly and maliciously insults or mocks the religious convictions of others' or 'maliciously desecrates objects of religious veneration' is liable to a monetary penalty, the indictment copy stated.
A top leader with Operation Libero, a political movement Ameti co-founded that describes itself as liberal and progressive, did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Ameti apologized at the time and quickly pulled down the images after posting them on Instagram and reportedly sought police protection against threats after the incident. She later said she had been practicing shots and found the poster 'big enough' for a suitable target.
The poster, an advertisement, showed details of the work 'Madonna with Child and the Archangel Michael' by 14th-century Italian painter Tommaso del Mazza before a sale.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
32 minutes ago
- BBC News
Budapest mayor questioned over organising banned pride march
Budapest's mayor has been questioned by police as a suspect in helping to organise a banned LGBTQ march in the event took place on June 28 despite warnings of potential legal repercussions by Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose government passed a law earlier this year banning the say that despite threats of fines, a record 200,000 people took part in the rally, which swiftly descended into an anti-government a rainbow T-shirt featuring the capitals coat of arms, Mayor Gergely Karacsony, who appeared at Hungary's National Bureau of Investigation on Friday, told supporters: "Neither freedom nor love can be banned in Budapest". If charged and convicted, Karacsony could face up to a year in prison for organising and encouraging participation in a banned march."They described the accusation. I said that I considered this to be unfounded and that I will lodge a complaint against it," Karacsony told a crowd of some 200 supporters and journalists who had gathered outside the building where he was questioned for more than an hour."Neither freedom nor love can be banned in Budapest," said the mayor, who added: "If it cannot be banned, it cannot be punished."Accompanied by his lawyer, Karacsony did not answer any questions posed by investigators but instead presented them with a statement of his annual pride march had been in doubt since the government passed a law in March restricting gatherings if they break child protection laws on the public promotion on was the latest measure from Orban's government targeting Hungary's LGBTQ+ 2020, Hungary abolished its legal recognition of transgender people, and in 2021, the government passed a law banning the depiction of homosexuality to the ban, the mayor stood in defiance, vowing: "Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest Pride march as a local event on 28 June," and argued that police could not legally ban a municipal month, police announced they would not take action against attendees who could have faced fines of up to €500 (£427; $586) for attending the Pride Hungary's National Bureau of Investigation, which is tasked with investigating serious and complex crimes, said it had launched a probe against an "unknown perpetrator" accused of organising the rally.
Reuters
32 minutes ago
- Reuters
Ukraine protects Europe from Kremlin aggression, Russian dissident Yashin says
BELGRADE, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Europe must start seeing Ukraine as a European country, and the Ukrainian military as a European army, Ilya Yashin, a prominent Russian opposition activist, said in Belgrade on Friday. "The Ukrainian army is not only protecting Ukraine, it is protecting Europe from Russian aggression," he told hundreds of Russians who now live in Serbia. Yashin was imprisoned in 2022 for criticising Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and released last year, along with 15 other prisoners in Russian and Belarusian jails. His speech at a Belgrade concert hall was the first such public appearance of a high-profile Russian dissident in Serbia since 2022. Between February 2022 and 2024, more than 74,000 Russians registered for temporary residence in Serbia, according to the latest Interior Ministry data, many fleeing conscription or persecution for their opposition to President Vladimir Putin. "This is a meeting with a true hero," said Petr Nikitin, a Belgrade-based Russian and an anti-war activist who came to hear Yashin. Serbia's relations with Moscow soured this year after Russia's SVR spy agency complained about sales of ammunition to Ukraine, and Yashin's visit would likely further complicate their ties. The Russian embassy to Serbia could not be immediately reached for comment. Serbia, which aspires to join the European Union, balances its policies between its historical ties to Russia and the West. Belgrade has repeatedly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but has refused to join Western sanctions against Moscow. In May, President Aleksandar Vucic travelled to Moscow to meet with Putin and attend a parade marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in World War Two. But Belgrade also recognises Ukraine in its entirety, including territories held by Russia. In June, Vucic visited Ukraine for the first time. Russia remains Serbia's biggest gas supplier, and the Balkan country's only oil refinery is majority-owned by Gazprom ( opens new tab and Gazprom Neft .
Telegraph
34 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Brexit isn't to blame for the Tate's woes, wokery is
If in doubt, blame Brexit. This has been the go-to for every failing business, politician and cultural enterprise for the last decade. And, with the news that the Tate is suffering from embarrassingly low attendance figures, director Maria Balshaw has reached for the same old script. 'The combination of Brexit changing their educational and work opportunities and then Covid profoundly affecting the end of their studies and the way they choose to live their lives' is stopping European youngsters from coming, says Balshaw. This blame game is telling for a number of reasons. For starters, the idea that Erasmus kids were what was holding Tate's attendance figures together is ludicrous – Brexit hasn't stopped youngsters from holidaying in the UK. Perhaps more revealing is the fact that Balshaw seems more concerned with attracting members of the European Union than addressing the nonchalance among punters from her own isle. Tate Modern has recently announced a slew of late openings to attract a Gen-Z audience. Museums having to masquerade as clubs to get the youth in is not a sign of good health. But aside from the Remaniac whining that is so typical in arts circles, why are Tate's numbers so low? A clue might be found in the shake-up of another event in 2016 – not Brexit but the revamping of Tate Modern as a 'museum for the 21st century', along with its Switch House 10-floor extension. There was a conscious reorientation by former directors Nicholas Serota and Frances Morris towards a focus on the political – think decolonisation, deconstruction, and lots of woke little plaques. At one point, an accompanying explanation next to Tate Britain's early 17th-century Cholmondeley Ladies informed the public of a possible lesbian subtext, which might have caused alarm to the sisters who feature in the work. One section of the Tate extension called 'Performer and Participant' informs viewers that they will be 'directed by an artist and political activism'. For your average Goldsmiths student this might be an exciting opportunity, but most ordinary museum goers are there to see the great art – never mind the politics. Perhaps Tate's failures are down to its own institutional cowardice. Over the years, both Tate Modern and Tate Britain have acted like museums who are embarrassed not only of their own collections but by their very own existence. The formerly famous Tate restaurant was not reopened after the pandemic thanks to criticism of the murals on the wall by Rex Whistler that included images of slave boys. Despite explanatory plaques, booklets and other apologetic scripts being produced around the mural for years, the museum decided that hungry members of the public simply couldn't be trusted to eat next to such a work. You can once more view them, but only in the context of an installation 'contextualising', ie condemning, the work. Likewise, Sir Stanley Spencer's Resurrection, Cookham has been quietly filed away into storage after critics argued that he had used images from a 'National Geographic magazine' to paint the black figures, instead of using people he knew – despite the obvious lack of black people to befriend in 1920s Cookham. Museums are not supposed to be entertainment factories, serving the political whims of colourfully dressed members of our cultural elite. These institutions seem to have forgotten their duty to curate and conserve art history in its entirety, without layering modern political fashions onto the past. In her book published last year, Gathering of Strangers, Balshaw insisted that 'we should not go back to the turn of the twentieth century and the Victorian civilising mission that motivated many museums', but instead look to the heroes of climate justice for direction as to which content should end up on the hallowed walls of our museums. A choice between the Victorians and Just Stop Oil? I know which exhibition I'd rather go to.
