By Nicholay Polozov, attorney:

We know one side of Masha, Katya, and Nadya’s story the least: the other side of the metal bars, where they have been living for almost a half-year now. Their side is filled with things unpleasant to a normal person: handcuffs, escort dogs, and rude and demeaning routines. The State’s real aim is not to correct anyone who is in there (sometimes erroneously), but to destroy her or him as an individual, as a person. The entire system is set to grind human dignity into the "camp dust", the meaningless ashes. Those who are stronger than the soulless bureaucratic machine, who can withstand the pressure by the people in the uniform, attract this system’s hatred and fear.

By Maria Alyokhina, a convicted Pussy Riot member:

After the verdict, we were escorted by guard dogs into a detention room, where we were each put into separate cells. A few minutes later a guard asked for a copy of the verdict. In a couple of minutes, all of a sudden Special Forces policemen stormed into the detention room ordering us to pack up. I asked for a little time, and they responded with arm-twisting. I found this very strange: usually they were not so violently rude to us. It must have been an order. Indeed, the order was to transport us on a bus filled with Special Forces police, surrounded with smaller police cars, and accompanied by two more buses full of Special Forces. Our cortege moved along a so-called "corridor": a specifically cleared out lane in the packed Friday Moscow traffic.

What was that all about? Even terrorists or those who committed crimes against humanity are not transported in such a manner. Throwing all these resources against three tiny girls means only one thing – fear, and I was surprised to see its scope. I want to hope that everything will end well, although what is happening now suggests otherwise.

20 August 2012

Source of the original text in Russian: http://echo.msk.ru/blog/alekhina/921634-echo