Unifaun Theatre Productions have taken the case of the banned play Stitching to the European Court of Human Rights.

Last November, the Constitutional Court of Appeal upheld a ban on performing the production.

Unifaun had planned to stage the play at St James Cavalier in Valletta in 2009 but it was banned by the now defunct Film and Stage Classification Board.

The board banned the play because of what it perceived as blasphemy, contempt for Auschwitz victims, dangerous sexual perversions, a eulogy to child murderers and references to the abduction, sexual assault and murder of children contained in the script.

The theatre company strongly contested the ban as a violation of the right to freedom of expression.

But the Civil Court ruled in 2010 that the ban was justified, prompting another appeal by Unifaun, culminating in Constitutional Court's judgement.

This morning, the producers, director and actors of the production initiated proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights seeking a declaration that the ban constituted a violation of their fundamental human rights, particularly their freedom of expression.

They said they were turning to the ECHR having exhausted all domestic judicial remedies.