A photograph of a man wiping his bottom with the French flag prompted the government to demand criminal proceedings against the artist that produced it.
The image, one of the winners in a photo contest organized by the book and record shop FNAC in the southern city of Nice, sparked a controversy after it appeared last month in a free national newspaper, Metro.
Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie “has demanded that criminal proceedings be launched against this unacceptable act,” said justice ministry spokesman Guillaume Didier.
“Presumably the law provides the legal means for punishing such an intolerable act against the French flag,” he added. “If the existing law proves incomplete in this regard, it should be revised.”
The decision was made after the ministry received a letter from Eric Ciotti, a deputy from President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party and president of the Alpes-Maritime region, who deemed the image “offensive” and called for an investigation.
“I want the person who committed this outrage to be punished, and possibly those who published it,” he wrote in his letter, adding that he had received numerous complaints from war veterans and other shocked constituents.
The state prosecutor in Nice, Eric de Mongolfier, told AFP he had examined the case last month at the ministry’s request and ruled the photograph did not constitute an offence since it was done in a “creative spirit.”
FNAC said it had quickly taken measures to counter the controversy.
“As soon as we saw that people were shocked by the image, we withdrew it from the list of winners, with the photographer’s consent, and we have not exhibited it,” said a FNAC spokeswoman.
The newspaper defended itself saying it had merely “covered a local event” that it “did not sponsor.”
“It is a question of knowing what the limits of art, provocation and freedom of speech are,” Metro France’s chief editor Frederic Vezard told AFP.
Under France’s penal code, insulting the French national anthem or the tricolor flag during a publicly organised event is punishable by up to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of 7,500 euros (US$10,045, NT$311,000)
Mongolfier said that to make it an offence, “the insult must be committed during an event organized or regulated by the public authorities, which is not the case” with the offending photograph.(AFP)
一名藝術家拍了張一名男士拿法國國旗擦屁股的照片，為此法國政府要對這位藝術家提起刑事訴訟。
這張得獎照片是專賣書及唱片的法雅客書店，在南部尼斯舉辦的攝影展得獎照片之一。但照片上個月刊在法國免費的地鐵報時，引發了爭議。
司法部發言人紀堯姆•迪迪埃表示部長艾利歐•馬利「要求對這件令人無法接受的事情提出刑事訴訟」。
他還說：「應有法律可處罰對法國國旗做出令人無法忍受舉動的行為。如果現行法律不足涵蓋這件事，就應當修法。」
司法部是在收到一封信後才做出這項決定。撰寫信函的是總統沙柯吉所屬人民運動聯盟副主席暨阿爾卑斯山濱海區議會議長艾利克•邱帝，他信中表示照片「令人反感」，並呼籲當局展開調查。
他在信中表示：「我希望這件事的始作俑者受懲罰，連那些刊登照片的也要罰。」他還說有許多榮民和震驚的民眾跟他投訴。
尼斯的國家檢察官艾利克•德•蒙哥菲爾告訴法新社說，他上個月在司法部的要求下，已審查了這個案子，並且裁定這張照片並無冒犯之意，因為那是「藝術創作的精神」下的產物。
法雅客方面表示，他們當下就採取對策平息爭議。
法雅客女發言人說：「我們看到有人被照片嚇到時，馬上就取得作者同意，將照片從得獎名單中抽掉，從此沒有再展出。」
刊登照片的報紙則為自己辯護，說他們只是「報導當地事件」，沒有「協辦」這項活動。
法國《地鐵報》總編輯弗雷德里克•菲扎德告訴法新社說：「問題在於了解藝術、挑釁與言論自由的界限何在。」
根據法國刑法，公然侮辱法國國歌與國旗可以處以六個月以下的徒刑，併科罰金七千五百歐元(一萬零四十五美元，折合新台幣約三十一萬一千元)。
蒙哥菲爾表示，如果真要構成侮辱法國國旗，「必須是在公家機關舉辦的場合，但照片裡的情況與此不符」。
（法新社╱翻譯：吳岱璟）
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