Roman Smetana, a bus driver from the eastern city of Olomouc, defaced several dozen campaign posters plastered on city buses before the 2010 general election. Deeply disillusioned with politics, he embellished candidates of all stripes with insect antennae and scribbled sneers on the posters. … the governing centre-right Civic Democratic Party (known as ODS from its Czech initials) filed a legal complaint … [and] the judge … ordered him to pay 15,500 Czech crowns (now $790) in damages and to … [spend] 100 days in jail. …

Smetana, whose acts earned him a tabloid nickname, the Driver Antenna, argues that he is no vandal “I’ve read a philosophical essay according to which political advertisement is just communication with voters. So, I, a voter, communicated with them, and on space designed for communication,” …