Élsio Manau, the creator of the installation piece ‘Portugal at the Gallows’ was acquitted today in Faro court of charges of ‘outrage against a national symbol.’
The court considered that Manau’s work was purely artistic and fell within the laws covering freedom of expression.
The judges balanced the conflict between the criminal law which classifies an 'outrage against a national symbol' as a crime, and Portugal’s constitution which encompasses freedom of speech and artistic expression.
The head of the panel of judges said the installation of a gallows in a field with Portugal’s flag hanging upside down was art and hence was allowable.
Speaking to journalists after his ordeal, Manau was satisfied that justice had been done, but regretted that the Portuguese system continue make judgments like these by bringing the case to court in the first place.
Manau was nearing the end of his degree in Visual Arts at the University of the Algarve and created ‘Portugal at the Gallows’ as a form of visual protest.
"It is a work that sought to show outrage at the state of the country,” said Menau, shortly after he was charged.
The display caused a national sensation, especially after the young man’s arrest, at a time when the country was enraged at the full implications of the government’s austerity programme in 2013.
Good sense has prevailed and a happy side effect is that Manau now is famous throughout the land.
