As part of its commitment to human rights, Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, will provide pro bono assistance and advisory to Jerzy Owsiak, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity Foundation, in a freedom of artistic expression case involving his use of profanity in a quotation at a recent book reading. Owsiak is a well-known Polish journalist, social campaigner and organizer of cultural events.

Dentons will argue that artistic messages and performances ought to be accorded a wider margin of protection under the freedom of expression and must not be censored through the application of subjective criteria. Therefore, Mr. Owsiak’s words should be treated as part of an artistic performance, which is protected by the freedom of expression.

“In his famous 1966 speech on freedom of art, the Nobel prize-winning author Heinrich Böll explored the relationship between freedom of art and reactions by public authorities and concluded that, ‘no state, no city, no community may be permitted to define what freedom is, as freedom is a natural condition’. We subscribe to this view and wish to stand up for freedom of speech and freedom to access art and information in an uncensored form,” said Arkadiusz Krasnodębski, Poland Managing Partner.

In 2016, Dentons’ Warsaw office established a strategic litigation team to provide pro bono legal advice in freedom of speech cases. Since then, the team has worked on a number of high profile human rights cases in Poland, including defending several bloggers and intellectuals, who were targeted for their comments on public policy.

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