Behemoth Deported From Russian Jail: “The Walls Were Smeared with Feces”
The nightmare is over: following yesterday’s news that Behemoth had been detained by Russian immigration officials for allegedly having improper paperwork, they’ve been deported from the country after a long, shitty (literally) night in jail. Needless to say, their concert was canceled.
Last night the band posted the following on Facebook (translated into English):
News from Nergal: “it looks like it’s going to be a normal jail. As soon as we receive the phones. At 9 am we have a court, then the judgment and possibly deportation.
Russian news website Znak.com [via Lambgoat] is now reporting that the musicians have been released and deported back to Poland after meeting with a judge this morning. When asked about the conditions of the jail room in which they spent the night, Nergal responded (translation edited for clarity):
It was a very small room about a half meter. The walls were smeared with feces. At night we asked to be taken to the toilet, but we were somehow denied. We had to go in plastic bottles.
On why the band was detained and deported:
We had received a visa at the Russian consulate in Warsaw. When we asked about how to complete the paperwork, we were told that it was necessary to obtain a business visa. We did everything we were told. Now it turns out that it was necessary to do some “humanitarian” visa, not a business visa.
The article at Znak.com explains about the difference between a business visa and humanitarian visa, implying that Behemoth may have needed to obtain a humanitarian visa because of their anti-religious / satanist message:
Humanitarian visa issued to foreign nationals entering the Russian Federation to implement the scientific, cultural, political, sporting or religious ties and contacts, pilgrimages, charitable activities or the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Ordinary humanitarian visa can be single or double for up to 3 months, or repeated for up to 1 year.
The article also notes that a number of Behemoth concerts in Siberia and Far Eastern Russian had already been canceled by local authorities that forbade Orthodox activists, “strong young people” that caused “irritation of the Orthodox community.”
As if Behemoth’s history hasn’t already been full of one nightmare after the next — constant religious controversy, fucking CANCER — can’t these guys catch a break?
