Behemoth’s frontman, Adam “Nergal” Darski, has been summoned by the Polish government for one of the band’s merchandise designs. Nergal had previously gone to court with the Polish government in 2017, Poland stating the merchandise has their official coat of arms on their Republic of the Unfaithful t-shirt design. Poland claims that Behemoth’s use of the white eagle is “anti-Polish” and “blasphemous,” and claim that it infringes on the country’s copyright.
Poland’s national emblem includes a white eagle, as does Behemoth’s merchandise design. Nergal had won the previous court case on the matter in 2018. Nergal had posted photos on Instagram of him in court yesterday, captioning the post with details on why he had once again been summoned.
“So some idiots still claim that ‘The Republic of the Unfaithful’ Behemoth logo is a sacrilege of Polish national emblem,” Nergal said on Instagram. “It is NOT in fact. But they insisted to reopen the case to investigate further. They think that copyrights of white eagle is solely owned by Poland and every other interpretation of the bird is blasphemy. My antagonists seem to be sooo desperate to nail their favorite scapegoat to their rotten moral cross that they missed all the comments sense in the narrative. They accuse us of anti-Polish act. If u ask me, spending hours in the court, engaging all the people around (journalists, judges, lawyers etc etc) spending xxx tax money on another absurd case is DEEPLY anti-Polish. We all could have saved this time to do something creative, couldn’t we?”
Poland’s Coat of Arms depicts a white eagle spreading its legs and wings as it wears a gold crown on top of its head. The Behemoth shirt in question has a white eagle wrapped with skulls and snakes, its tail similar to the Polish Coat of Arms while it holds the tail of each snake in its feet. An upside-down cross lays on top of the eagle, its head turned in the same direction as the Polish eagle, but horns stretch out of its head rather than a crown. Behemoth has since stopped selling the shirt.
Prior to the allegations regarding the shirt design, Nergal had been tried in Poland for ripping up a Bible on stage, calling it a “book of lies.” Nergal had managed to be acquitted from the charges of blasphemy in that case.
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