Academics at Charles University in Prague have initiated a petition
urging the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, to pardon the Ztohoven
collective of young artists who superimposed an image of a nuclear
explosion and mushroom cloud, above, over an image of the Krkonose
Mountains, by hacking into a Czech Television CT2 weather broadcast in
June, Agence France-Presse reported. Seven members of the group, which
achieved international renown and won a national art prize for its
images, are to appear in court on March 25, when they face sentences of
as much as three years for scaremongering. The academics’ petition
argues that the case is ridiculous and a waste of money. “The image
introduced onto the broadcast was so absurd that it is impossible to
regard it as scaremongering,” they said in a statement. Denisa Kera, a
teacher and organizer of the protest, said the petition had gathered
3,500 signatures in its first three days.
 
 |