Opera Director Charged With Offending Christians

Director Timofei Kulyabin of Tannhauser, a Richard Wagner opera, has been charged by Russian authorities of offending Christians.

Kulyabin said, "It's absurd and I don't want to take part in something absurd, to be honest. "I just have a sense of deep incomprehension."

He goes on: "I don't want to and I cannot understand the system of values of Orthodox activists," Kulyabin said. "They have nothing to do with theatre."

Prosecutors accuse the director of "publicly desecrated the object of religious worship in Christianity - the image of Jesus Christ in the Gospels". The offense carries a maximum fine of 200,000 rubles ($3,165) for an official.

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