ATHENS, GREECE.- Christos Loakeimidis was declared not guilty by a court of law and said that he had not intended to “offend the Orthodox faith and public decency by including a controversial painting in a major Athens contemporary art exhibition in November 2003”, reported AP. "Asperges Me" ("Sprinkle Me"), by Belgian artist Thierry de Cordier, shows an erect penis ejaculating over a crucifix. Its showing at the state-funded "Outlook" exhibition, at the Athens School of Fine Art, outraged conservatives and Church officials, the AP reports.

The painting was taken down but it fuelled a debate on art and censorship. Shortly afterward, a vandal attacked an artwork at the same exhibition showing a naked man copulating with a watermelon. Back then Yiorgos Karatzaferis, leader of LAOS (an extreme right wing party) demanded the deposition of “Asperges Me”, because he considered it blasphemous to Christianity. Miltiadis Evert, the former leader of the main opposition party ( New Democracy) declared that “if the work is not taken down by the organizers by Friday he will go and take it down himself”. Father Epiphanios, the representative of the Greek Orthodox Church, sent a letter to Evangelos Venizelos, Secretary of Culture, requiring the protection of “our secret symbols”. The Board of the Cultural Olympiad and the Director, Christos Joachimides, decided to withdraw the work.