A Japanese artist charged with obscenity for distributing a design
for a kayak shaped like her vagina scoffed on Monday at a demand by
prosecutors to punish her with a $6 600 fine and vowed to appeal if
found guilty.
Megumi Igarashi's case has drawn widespread
attention and sparked accusations of heavy-handed censorship in a
country known for its multi-billion-dollar pornography industry but
where actual depictions of genitalia are banned.
Igarashi was
arrested in July 2014 for trying to raise funds online to pay for the
construction of the kayak by disseminating a coded 3D image of her
genitals.
The artist, who calls herself Rokude Nashiko, slang that
loosely translates as "reprobate child" was released days later
following a legal appeal and after thousands of people signed a petition
demanding her freedom.
She was held in custody for around a month before being granted bail.
Japan has a prolific pornography industry that caters to all imaginable tastes. But tough obscenity laws ban the showing of actual genitalia, which normally appear pixellated or blacked out.
Prosecutors on Monday demanded that she be fined about $6 600 at a hearing at Tokyo District Court.
A defiant Igarashi, however, said that she was resigned to the fact that prosecutors will probably appeal the case if she is found not guilty in May when the verdict will be handed down.
"And if I am found guilty, I will of course continue fighting," she told reporters after the court session.
"This battle is expected to be a long one."
Takashi Yamaguchi, one of Igarashi's lawyers, said that the prosecution was intent on making an example of Igarashi ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
"I believe the Olympics is definitely one of the factors" behind the decision to seek such a hefty fine, he added.
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