Articles

16 Mar 2012
Due West: “Punk Prayer” Exposes Fractures in Russian Society.

15/03/2012
RIA Novosti
Weekly column by Konstantin von Eggert

There are no winners in this situation. The church is a loser regardless of the fate of the two young mothers now in pre-trial detention. It is seen as insufficiently resolute by the conservative laity and insufficiently merciful – and too reliant on the powers of the state - by more tolerant, younger believers. Ultimately, all of them see the church hierarchy as weak and lacking in independence and clarity of vision.

http://en.ria.ru/columnists/20120315/172167486.html
15 Mar 2012
Pussy Riot case, Muslims invoke spiritual courts

March 15 2012 12:09
Asia News

Other faiths are united in the orthodox condemnation of the exhibition punk girl group in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Catholics invite dialogue and to avoid repression. On the street people ask why the Patriarch Kirill does not show forgiveness to the two arrested girls.

Muslims and Jews have joined the harsh condemnation voiced by the Patriarchate of Moscow against the punk-feminist and anti-Putin band, Pussy Riot. Arrested for having staged a performance on February 21 desecrating the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, the case of these musicians-activists has provoked heated debate over respect for Russian public places of worship and freedom of expression.

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pussy-Riot-case,-Muslims-invoke-spiritual-courts-...
14 Mar 2012
Putin, Pussy Riot, and the Future of the Russian Protest Movement

March 14, 2012
Policymic
Could a feminist punk band become the face of Russia's anti-Putin movement?

http://www.policymic.com/articles/5454/putin-pussy-riot-and-the-future-of-the-ru...
14 Mar 2012
Rights activists consider women arrested for performance in cathedral "prisoners of conscience"

14 March 2012, 10:03
Interfax
Several prominent Russian human rights activists and public figures called for releasing two members of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot from prison, where they have been put for a controversial performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

"We are calling for immediately releasing the arrestees and stopping their criminal prosecution," says a statement signed by human rights activists Lyudmila Alexeyeva, Lev Ponomaryov, Lilia Shibanova, and Yury Jibladze, writer Andrey Piontkovsky, opposition politician Sergey Davidis, and some others.

"We consider the arrested Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova prisoners of conscience being persecuted for expressing their views and are calling on international organizations to recognize them as such. We are calling for launching a public campaign in their defense to help return legal democratic standards in our country," they said.

"There is no law in the Russian Federation prohibiting the reading of non-canonical prayers at an Orthodox church. There was no insult addressed to the believers in the church, or attacks on the Orthodox Church or Christian religion. Therefore, strictly following the letter and the spirit of the Russian law, there can be no criminal prosecution," the statement says.

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=9143
14 Mar 2012
Pussy Riot Demonstrators Detained Outside Courthouse

14 March 2012
The Moscow Times
Among those detained was art group Voina member Peter Verzilov, who was demonstrating in support of the jailed women, and nationalist political party Congress of Russian Communities member Alexander Bosykh, who was on the side of those supporting their detainment, Interfax reported.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/pussy-riot-demonstrators-detained-out...
14 Mar 2012
Overview of the Case

By Sergey Chernov
The St. Petersburg Times
Published: March 14, 2012 (Issue # 1699)

Pussy Riot, the Moscow-based feminist all-woman punk group notorious for its unsanctioned performance, found itself under unprecedented pressure from the Kremlin when two alleged members were arrested on the eve of the March 4 presidential election.

The two women, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, have been charged with criminal mischief committed by a group and face up to seven years in prison.

Despite the fact that the two women have small children and there is no evidence to suggest they present any danger, the court ruled that they should be kept in custody for two months while they wait for the trial.

The band is said to have insulted the feelings of religious people by entering the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and performing a song called “Madonna, Drive Putin Away” there on Feb. 21, before they were ejected by the church’s security guards.

During their performances, the members of Pussy Riot wear colored balaclavas and cannot be identified from the video, which is the only evidence.

According to Pussy Riot’s press release, Tolokonnikova and Alekhina, who have gone on hunger strike to protest their imprisonment, deny belonging to Pussy Riot and taking part in the performance. Meanwhile, the group continues to receive threats via the Internet of rape and murder.

More than 2,000 believers including 23 priests were among almost 6,000 who signed a petition to Patriarch Kirill, head of the Orthodox Church, asking him to show mercy on the imprisoned women. It was delivered on Monday. On March 8, which was declared the International Day of Solidarity with Pussy Riot, a number of protests were held.

Opposition leaders Alexei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov took part in a picket near the Interior Ministry Department on that day. Yury Shevchuk, frontman of Russia’s leading rock band DDT, was among artists who spoke in support of the arrested women.

Thirty officers took part in the arrests of the two women, who were treated as if they were terrorists, while five senior investigators are working on the case, according to Pussy Riot.

Some of the investigators have admitted that the orders came “from the very top,” the group says.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, admitted that his boss did not like the song.

It appears that it was no coincidence that the arrests took place on March 3 — the day before the voting, which was marked by large-scale violations in favor of Putin — with the aim of scaring protesters and dissenting artists.

The feelings of believers are merely being used as a pretext for political repression.

Novaya Gazeta reported this week that the alleged band members had been offered immediate release by Channel One television in exchange for an on-air apology on a popular talk show, which is chillingly reminiscent of Stalin’s 1930s show trials and dissidents’ television repentances of the 1970s and 1980s.

Free Pussy Riot!

http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=35317
14 Mar 2012
All-Russia Public Movement “For Human Rights” Statement: Russian Judiciary has been turned into Inquisition

All-Russia Public Movement
13/03/2012

Statement

Moscow’s Tagansky district Court ruled to have jailed for 50 days 22 y.o. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and 23 y.o. Maria Alyohkhina. Both women have small children. The court has declined the appeals to bail out the arrested women. In protest the arrested launched hunger-strike. The whole charge is solely a suspicion in participating in the performance by the music-band “Pussy Riot” in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on 21 February 2012.

The performance was stylized as an Orthodox Prayer. This caused controversial reactions in secular and clerical communities: some considered it blasphemy, some - conforming to the folk traditions of carnival-like performances, while others expressed that the modern world is well familiarized with rock-remixes of prayers. In any case, in the Russian Federation, there is no any kind of legal prohibition for performing non-canonical prayers in the church.

There was no offence towards the visitors of the church and no offence toward the Orthodox Church or Christianity. Plenum of Russian Supreme Court, on 4 July 2011, separated the critique towards religious institutions from expressions of extremisms. Thus, strictly following the rule of the law of Russia, there can be even a question about any criminal charges. In substance, the arrested women are incriminated with blasphemy, which reverse the judicial system of Russia as far as 95 years back. What testifies to this is the very public statements made by the official representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, for example, Vsevolod Chaplin, who related the release of the detained women with religious redemption, even though, the Church itself in this case, was not in any way a victim.
 It is the first precedent of that kind in Russia, when a criminal case is open and someone becomes arrested on the grounds of blasphemy. Before, the same sort of cases were limited to administrative fines. Based on the above precedent, the last barrier was removed on the way to turning Russia into a clerical state, where contradicting church politics equals with criminal action. In the above case, the investigation, litigation and prosecution measures are used to attack the very foundations of constitutional governance, that guarantees secular and non-ideology-based character of the state.
The arrest indicates the merging of Church and State and transforming the judicial system into the Orthodox Inquisition is taking place.

We demand the immediate release of the arrested women and immediate termination of all criminal charges initiated against them.

We consider the arrested Maria Alyohkhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova Prisoners of Conscience, who are persecuted for their beliefs, and we call international organizations to recognize them in such status. We call for launching public campaign in their defense, as a matter of securing Russia’s return to the norms democratic judiciary-based state.

Ludmilla Alexeeva, Chairwoman, Moscow Helsinki group
Valery Borshchev, member, Moscow Helsinki group
Lev Ponomarev, All-Russia Public Movement «For human rights»
Svetlana Gannushkina, Chairwoman, Committee for civil assistance
Sergey Sorokin, judicial expert,
Yuri Ryzhov, academician, Russian Academy of Sciences
Andrei Piontkovsky, writer
Alexey Kondaurov, Bureau member, National assembly of the RF
Yuri Djibladze, president, Center for the development of democracy and human rights

and many others

letter can be signed here: http://zaprava.ru/index.php?option=com_petitions&view=petition&id=124

http://zaprava.ru/index.php?option=com_petitions&view=petition&id=124
14 Mar 2012
Pussy Riot Suspects Charged with Hooliganism

March 13
RIA Novosti

MOSCOW. Charges of hooliganism were filed against two suspected members of the all-female punk group Pussy Riot over a protest at the Russian capital's largest cathedral, their lawyer said.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120313/172130097.html
13 Mar 2012
President's Human Rights Council of Russia is against the Criminal Charges

SvobodaNews
13.03.2012 12:36

The head of the President's Human Rights Council of Russia, Mikhail Fedorov, has disapproved the of the criminal charges initiated against the members of the "Pussy Riot", who performed a 'punk-prayer' in front of the altar in the Cathederal of Christ the Savior in Moscow on 21 February."

"They have to be charged by the rule of the law, which provides, according to the incriminated to the band 'hooliganism', the maximum administrative punishment of 15 days arrest" Fedorov said to the Interfax.

Over three thousand have signed the Internet-petition to the Patriarch Cyrill, appealing to intervene the case and support the jailed women.

The court-hearing is set for 14 March 2012 in the Central Court of Moscow.

HTTP://WWW.SVOBODANEWS.RU/ARCHIVE/RU_NEWS_ZONE/20120313/17/17.HTML?ID=24513802
13 Mar 2012
Pussy Riot vs Vladimir Putin: the feminist punk band jailed for cathedral protest

Guardian
11/03/2012

Supporters at anti-Putin rally in Moscow call for release of alleged members of band

Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot, two of whose alleged members face up to seven years in jail for a "punk prayer" they staged in Moscow's main cathedral, have received unexpected backing from a group of Orthodox Christians who say they are being too harshly punished.

The group's performances have seen them appear in masks in a range of unexpected places to sing anti-government songs.

Part of the growing protest movement against Vladimir Putin, who was elected to a third term last Sunday, the group sang an obscenity-strewn song in Christ the Cathedral Saviour last month, including an appeal to the "Holy Mother, Blessed Virgin," asking her to "chase Putin out".

The Russian Orthodox Church condemned the stunt and called for the group to be punished. Days after the performance the group's alleged members were arrested and two, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, have been charged with hooliganism. The pair, both of whom have young daughters, have been refused bail. Neither has admitted being part of the group.

Lina Moniava, a charity worker and Orthodox Christian, sent a petition to the head of the church appealing for them to ask for the criminal case to be closed. What the group did was "intolerable" said the letter, but "what is more intolerable is the reaction to the events".

One of the anti-Putin movement's leaders, Alexei Navalny, also called for the women to be released, saying the act was "idiotic" but that they were not dangerous. Pussy Riot performed a concert on the roof of the detention centre where Navalny was held after the first large protest in December and Navalny, also an Orthodox Christian, held a one-person picket outside police headquarters in Moscow, where the women are being held, last week.

There was plenty of support for the jailed pair at yesterday's opposition rally in Moscow, which saw up to 15,000 gather in the city centre.

"Pussy vs Putin" said one sign in English at the demonstration while another called for "Pussy Riot for the Eurovision". One protester held up the female torso of a shop dummy with "Free Pussy Riot" written on the back. The two women were included in a list of political prisoners read out from the stage.

https://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/world/2012/mar/11/putin-russia-president-e...