Jonas Staal

Jonas Staal is a Dutch artist arrested in 2005 for anonymously distributing portraits of right wing MP Geert Wilders in the streets of Rotterdam and The Hague with a candle, flowers and sometimes a teddybear. The public prosecutor charged him with the crime of threatening assault on parliament. He was released by a judge who believed his actions were merely an artistic expression. [cite web|title=Jonas Staal vrijgelaten|publisher=Ayaan Hirsi ali Weblog|date=May 5, 2005|url=http://ayaanhirsiali.web-log.nl/ayaanhirsiali/2005/05/jonas_staal_vri.html] Staal said that it had been a performance or happening: a set designed for an event that never happened. The set was probably intended to be reminiscent of the public mourning of mudered politician Pim Fortuyn. The prosecutor has appealed and the case would be put on hold on May 21, 2008 pending the availability of Wilders to appear before the judge to explain why he felt threatened. [cite web|title=Rechtzaak tegen kunstenaar Jonas Staal uitgesteld|publisher="NRC Handelsblad"|date=May 20, 2008|url= http://www.nrc.nl/kunst/article1094816.ece/Rechtszaak_tegen_kunstenaar_Jonas_Staal_uitgesteld] .

In a debate in parliament the leader of GroenLinks, Femke Halsema, though finding his work repulsive, wished to know why Wilders PVV party objected to the prosecution of cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot, while Wilders himself was seeking the prosecution of Staal. PVV MP Bosma answered her that Staal himself explicitly states the intention of a threat and invades the privacy of Wilders. Halsema thought that the utterances of Staal were perhaps part of the performance, but just used the artist to illustrate a point about the selective behaviour of the PVV. [Tweede Kamer, 85e vergadering, Dinsdag 20 Mei 2008 (ongecorrigeerd verslag op www.tweedekamer.nl 25 mei 2008).] .

=Links=
* Jonas Staal website, [http://www.jonasstaal.nl]
* Stroom, Jonas Staal kunstenaar en agitator, [http://www.stroom.nl/activiteiten/lezing_symposium.php?l_id=8557019]

=References=