Pussy Riot

On 21 February 2012 three members of the punk band and radical feminist collective Pussy Riot pulled a flash stunt in the sanctuary of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour singing a song entitled "Holy Shit" and chanting "Virgin Mary, Mother of God, send Putin packing". Consequently the incident was posted by the group on YouTube.

Kyrill I, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, had impicitly been supporting the candidacy of Vladimir Putin for the presidency, and many priests had been doing so openly. Putin was elected President of the Russian Federation three days after the incident.

The three women were arrested on 3 March charged with hooliganism and held in custody at times under harsh conditions. They are: Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30. Two are mothers of young children. Mme Tolokonnikova holds a valid Canadian residency card; her husband is a dual Russian-Canadian citizen, educated in Canada.

On 17 August 2012 Judge Marina Syrova in Khamovnichesky District Court of Central Moscow found them guilty of the charge, aggravated by blasphemy offensive to the Orthodox Church. Prosecution had called for a sentence of three years. The judge sentenced them to two years of labour camp less time served.

Statement of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova [New York Times, 17 August 2012]:

To my deepest regret, this mock trial is close to the standards of the Stalinist troikas. Who is to blame for the performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and for our being put on trial after the concert? The authoritarian political system is to blame. What Pussy Riot does is oppositional art or politics. In any event, it is a form of civil action in circumstances where basic human rights, civil and political freedoms are suppressed.

Troikas were commissions of three NKVD (secret police) officers who summarily tried millions of political prisoners in the USSR.

The sentence was appealed on 28 August 2012. Defence counsel was not optimistic. The appeal will be heard 10 October 2010.

International reaction of many governments and press has been highly critical of a trial worthy of the Inquisition, most calling the sentence disproportional. Le Monde [18 August 2012] notes the difficulty of the defence to get access to all the elements of the trial, and the fact that blasphemy is not a crime mentioned in the criminal code:  

Avec ce verdict, le troisième mandat de Vladimir Poutine bascule dans le ridicule. Plus que jamais, l'appareil judiciaire russe vient de se déconsidérer, bafouant les droits de la défense – les avocats n'ont pas vraiment eu accès au dossier d'accusation –  ainsi que le code pénal – le blasphème n'y figure pas. Sans parler de la Constitution, qui fait de la Fédération russe, multiethnique et multiconfessionnelle, un Etat laïc.

A government spokesman ridiculed public hysteria surrounding the case, saying that the law functioned impartially without interference. It was reported that authorities were meanwhile looking to identify two other participants of Pussy Riot who took part on 21 February.

[El País, 20 August 2012]  The two, however, were reported to have probably fled the country. About a dozen other members of the collective remain active in Russia.

 [reports 26 August 2012.]

For three hours on Tuesday, 21 August 2012, hackers apparently of Anonymous collective got into the web site of the Moscow district court where Pussy Riot were tried. One of  PR songs was embedded along with one by a Bulgarian supporter. A headline read: Putin's thieving gang is robbing our country! Wake up, comrades! 

[NYT, 21 August 2012]

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova replied in writing from prison via her lawyer to numerous questions from Der Spiegel about the meaning of the protest. See issue 36 (3 September 2012). The movement is described as anti-authoritarian, feminist, and anti-capitalist, artists with a political and social agenda of whom there have been many in Russian history.

Pussy Riot were awarded a LennonOno grant for peace in New York, and there was a fund raising event there this week. [21 September 2012]

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedyev was quoted to believe the two-year sentence was excessive, while in no way condoning the offensive actions of the group.

Medvedev also said that he believes a suspended sentence, including the six-plus months the women have already served, would have been enough. "Prolonging their time in prison in connection to this case seems unproductive," he said. Still, Medvedev said he was "sickened" by the group's acts and the "hysteria" they caused. [Rolling Stone, 12 September 2012]

With Pussy Riot now one of the best-known symbols of the Russian political opposition, any development in their case attracts enormous attention and mobilization efforts. Security was tightened around the courthouse [for first appeal session on 1 October 2012]  as defenders of the Russian Orthodox Church chanted hymns and engaged in public prayer. Meanwhile, supporters of Pussy Riot brought an inflatable doll to the courthouse wearing a balaclava. Several people were arrested, including members of a Ukrainian male dance group called Kazaky [Cossacks], who appeared in support of Pussy Riot. [NYT, 1 October 2012]