121 members of the German Bundestag have sent a letter to the Russian Ambassador to Germany, Vladimir Grinin, in support of the three jailed Pussy Riot Members, Spiegel reported on Wednesday.

 

                                                                                    7 August 2012
Vladimir M. Grinin
Ambassador of the Russian Federation
Embassy of the Russian Federation
Unter den Linden 63-65
10117 Berlin

 

Excellency,
We, the undersigned Members from all of the parliamentary groups in the German
Bundestag, are concerned about the circumstances of the criminal proceedings against three
members of the band “Pussy Riot”.
Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich have been held in
provisional custody for around five months. They are accused of having performed a “punk
prayer” in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on 21 February 2012. This is said to
have constituted an offence of “organised hooliganism”, which carries a penalty of up to
seven years’ imprisonment. On 20 July 2012, the Khamovniki Court in Moscow extended
their provisional custody until 12 January 2013. The three artists facing charges have since
apologised to Orthodox Christians for their sensational “punk prayer”, saying that it was not
their intention to offend anyone’s religious beliefs.
The months of provisional custody and the harsh sentence which may be imposed are, in our
view, draconian and disproportionate. Especially in view of the fact that artistic acts like the
three defendants’ “punk prayer” are protected by the freedom of the arts and the right to
freedom of expression in accordance with Article 10 of the Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR). The constitution of the Russian
Federation protects the freedom of the arts in Article 44 (1): “Everyone shall be guaranteed
the freedom of literary, artistic, scientific, technical and other types of creative activity, and
teaching.” In a secular and pluralist state, peaceful artistic activities – even if they may be
seen as a provocation – should not lead to accusations of a serious crime and long prison
sentences.

Respectfully yours,

 

  

Volker Beck

 

 

Frank Heinrich                

 

 

Christoph Strässer                

 

 

Marina Schuster

 

Supported by the following Members of the Bundestag

Jan van Aken MdB
Kerstin Andreae MdB
Rainer Arnold MdB
Bärbel Bas MdB
Marieluise Beck MdB
Florian Bernschneider MdB
Lothar Binding MdB
Matthias W. Birkwald MdB
Gerd Bollmann MdB
Martin Burkert MdB
Viola von Cramon MdB
Petra Crone MdB
Heidrun Dittrich MdB
Bijan Djir-Sarai MdB
Harald Ebner MdB
Siegmund Ehrmann MdB
Hans-Josef Fell MdB
Thomas Gambke MdB
Kai Gehring MdB
Katrin Göring-Eckardt MdB
Hans-Michael Goldmann MdB
Angelika Graf MdB
Kerstin Griese MdB
Michael Groß MdB
Annette Groth MdB
Wolfgang Gunkel MdB
Wolfgang Hellmich MdB
Gabriele Hiller-Ohm MdB
Bärbel Höhn MdB
Barbara Höll MdB
Ingrid Hönlinger MdB
Birgit Homburger MdB
Dieter Jasper MdB
Lukrezia Jochimsen MdB
Egon Jüttner MdB
Michael Kauch MdB
Uwe Kekeritz MdB
Ulrich Kelber MdB
Katja Keul MdB
Roderich Kiesewetter MdB
Memet Kilic MdB
Volkmar Klein MdB
Maria Klein-Schmeink MdB
Pascal Kober MdB
Ute Koczy MdB
Tom Koenigs MdB
Bärbel Kofler MdB
Jutta Krellmann MdB
Agnes Krumwiede MdB
Renate Künast MdB
Undine Kurth MdB
Christian Lange MdB
Caren Lay MdB
Monika Lazar MdB
Stefan Liebich MdB
Kirsten Lühmann MdB
Oliver Luksic MdB
Nicole Maisch MdB
Michael Meister MdB
Kerstin Müller MdB
Petra Müller MdB
Beate Müller-Gemmeke MdB
Dietmar Nietan MdB
Manfred Nink MdB
Konstantin von Notz MdB
Friedrich Ostendorff MdB
Aydan Özoğuz MdB
Rita Pawelski MdB
Richard Pitterle MdB
Yvonne Ploetz MdB
Jörg von Polheim MdB
Brigitte Pothmer MdB
Mechthild Rawert MdB
Ingrid Remmers MdB
René Röspel MdB
Tabea Rößner MdB
Michael Roth MdB
Manuel Sarrazin MdB
Paul Schäfer MdB
Elisabeth Scharfenberg MdB
Marianne Schieder MdB
Christian Schmidt MdB
Frithjof Schmidt MdB
Ulla Schmidt MdB
Ulrich Schneider MdB
Patrick Schnieder MdB
Ottmar Schreiner MdB
Jimmy Schulz MdB
Swen Schulz MdB
Stefan Schwartze MdB
Kathrin Senger-Schäfer MdB
Ilja Seifert MdB
Raju Sharma MdB
Petra Sitte MdB
Dorothea Steiner MdB
Rainer Stinner MdB
Wolfgang Strengmann-Kuhn MdB
Sabine Stüber MdB
Kirsten Tackmann MdB
Frank Tempel MdB
Manfred Todtenhausen MdB
Markus Tressel MdB
Jürgen Trittin MdB
Axel Troost MdB
Arnold Vaatz MdB
Kathrin Vogler MdB
Ute Vogt MdB
Johanna Voß MdB
Arfst Wagner MdB
Daniela Wagner MdB
Beate Walter-Rosenheimer MdB
Katrin Werner MdB
Andrea Wicklein MdB
Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker MdB
Josef Winkler MdB
Uta Zapf MdB
Sabine Zimmermann MdB

 

 

Volker Beck
Member of the German Bundestag First Parliamentary Secretary and spokesman on human rights
for the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group in the Bundestag

Frank Heinrich
Member of the German Bundestag Member of the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid
CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag

Christoph Strässer
Member of the German Bundestag Spokesman on human rights for the SPD parliamentary group
in the Bundestag

Marina Schuster
Member of the German Bundestag Spokeswoman on human rights and humanitarian aid for the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag