The minister and his deputy fled the festival because the participants raised banners against the release of Ligandis

On Saturday evening, shortly before the start of the second performance of Aeschylus’ “Persians” in the ancient theater of Epidaurus, a protest was held against the decision to suspend the execution of the sentence of pedophile and rapist Dimitris Lignadis.

The Ministry of Culture and Sports, led by Lina Mendoni, issued a disappointing statement over the minister’s departure from the Kalamata International Dance Festival, following a poster by Belgian artistic group Peeping Tom that said: “Rapists Must Be In Jail” “.

Let us recall that L. Mendoni, as an exception, hired D. Ligandis as the director of the National Theatre, and besides, they have many years of friendly relations. In Britain, for a much less scandalous situation, the Johnson government resigned. However, this is Greece … Here, because of scandals, they do not resign.

The ministry says it deliberately withdrew from participation “so as not to legitimize… the politicization of culture.”

It is recalled that the International Dance Festival in Kalamata started with the show “Triptych”, and the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni was there along with the gay (according to his statement), Deputy Minister of Culture Nikos Giatromanolakis. They were informed about the action of the artist, who protested in this way, and left a few minutes before the start of the performance. In a statement, the ministry confirms the reason why they left before the start of the performance: “The decision of the political leadership of the Ministry of Culture and Sports not to attend the premiere of the International Dance Festival in Kalamata was a completely conscious choice in order not to legitimize the politicization of culture. SYRIZA is trying to turn theater stages into people’s courts. We’re not going to follow them down that path.”

Recall that the dancers at the international dance festival in Kalamata expressed their disagreement with parole famous director, despite the fact that he was found guilty on two counts of rape of minors, and several other cases were “hushed up” for various reasons.

After raising a protest banner with the inscription in English “Rapists should be in prison” (“Rapists Must Be In Jail”) Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni and her deputy Nikos Giatromanolakis left the hall a few minutes before the start of the performance.

Also on Saturday evening, shortly before the start of Aeschylus’s second performance of The Persians, a protest took place in the ancient theater of Epidaurus against the decision to suspend the execution of the sentence against the rapist Dimitris Lignadis. The audience raised two large banners with the inscription “He’s a rapist.” The video shows that the banner attracted the attention of viewers, with many shouting “well done” and clapping their hands, while some rushed to take out their mobile phones to capture the protest.

επίδαυρος τώρα, πέρσες. pic.twitter.com/jle3Rn7ui2

— koiniαν (@koinian) July 16, 2022

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