By Rachel Savage
LONDON, Aug 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A Polish LGBT+ protestor could be jailed for hanging rainbow flags on statues in the capital, Warsaw, her lawyer said on Thursday, as gay rights divide the eastern European country.
Three activists were arrested this week for draping flags over five statues, including one of Jesus carrying the cross and the Mermaid of Warsaw, a centuries-old symbol of the city.
Margo Szutowicz’s lawyer said she could face up to two years in jail for offending people’s religious feelings “by outraging in public an object of religious worship”, as well as a fine or community service for the second crime of profaning a monument.
“My client does not admit to those charges presented to her,” said Maria Radziejowska, adding that Szutowicz was only under investigation as a suspect and had not been charged.
The two other activists are being investigated for profaning a monument, said their lawyer Katarzyna Gajowniczek-Pruszynska.
The Warsaw state prosecutor’s office did not respond to requests to comment and a police spokesman declined to comment.
LGBT+ rights have become increasingly divisive in Poland under the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS), which President Andrzej Duda has dismissed as a foreign “ideology” undermining Poland’s traditional Catholic values.
Duda, who was elected in 2015, won a second term last month after an acrimonious campaign laced with homophobic language and appeals to religious conservatives, raising fears of further discrimination among LGBT+ Poles.
