The man arrested Sunday after the degradation of a controversial painting at the Palais de Tokyo is a former elected representative of the National Front, learned Monday Le Parisien, confirming information from Le Monde, while the Minister of Culture points to the responsibility of the National Rally.
This is Pierre Chassin, former leader of the National Front group in the municipal council of Mureaux (Yvelines). He is accused of projecting paint on the work "Fuck abstraction!" by Swiss artist Miriam Cahn, accused of child pornography by his detractors.
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The Paris prosecutor's office announced the opening of an investigation for damage to exposed cultural property, after the arrest of the octogenarian.
The Ministry of Culture implicates the RN
Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak, who had already denounced Sunday the "instrumentalization" of this case by the National Rally, took the opportunity Monday to challenge Marine Le Pen on Twitter.
"A former elected FN attacks the work of Miriam Cahn after the smear campaign of your party," said the minister who had been questioned on the subject by RN deputy Caroline Parmentier in March.
A former FN MP attacks the work of Miriam Cahn after your party's smear campaign. And while justice has recognized that this painting, which denounces the horrors of war, can be exposed.
Decidedly @MLP_officiel, nothing has changed since the National Front! https://t.co/baedBbvewg
— Rima Abdul Malak (@RimaAbdulMalak) May 8, 2023
"And while justice has recognized that this painting, which denounces the horrors of war, can be exposed. Decidedly (...), nothing has changed since the National Front! " she was indignant.
"I condemn all degradations wherever they come from," Caroline Parmentier replied on Twitter on Sunday, referring to the questioning of her party by the Minister of Culture. "But freedom of expression is also that of the representatives of the Nation to express their indignation at works clearly representing a scene of paedocriminality. Without being defamed by a minister... " she added.
A work at the heart of the controversy since mid-February
Exhibited in the Parisian contemporary art center since mid-February, the painting represents a frail person with tied hands, forced to perform oral sex by a powerful man without a face. For his detractors, the victim is a child, which the artist denies, invoking the representation of rape as a weapon of war and crime against humanity.
The associations Juristes pour l'enfance, l'Enfance en partage, Face à l'inceste and Innocence en danger, considering the child pornography painting, demanded its removal but were rejected in the spring by the administrative court of Paris, then by the Council of State.
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The association Juristes pour l'enfance said it discovered the deterioration. "Children's lawyers and other associations (have) acted as we always do, taking legal action, writing to officials and informing the public," she said.
For its part, the Palais de Tokyo, which has announced to file a complaint, will continue, "in agreement with the artist", to "present the painting and the exhibition" visited by 80,000 people "with traces of degradation until the scheduled end of the season, May 14".