23 July 2012

By Graham Jones 

There are times when a landmark legal case can change society. Rosa Parkes, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Tolpuddle Martyrs: the courage and sacrifice of these and other brave people have opened the way for millions of others. In these cases the defendants are on trial, for sure, but not so much as the system that is prosecuting and persecuting them.

Such a landmark is the case in Moscow of the members of the Pussy Riot music group: Yekaterina Samutsevich, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina. This case has sent shockwaves round the world putting a spotlight on the Russian legal system and the forces behind it.

The hysterical over-reaction of these powerful people in Russia against three young musicians seems to highlight the deepest-seated fears and grim nightmares of the Russian elite. What are they so frightened of?

Their ongoing persecution of Pussy Riot seems to cause worldwide antagonism against the Russian authorities at a time when they are already virtually isolated on the international stage regarding Syria.

They can be assured that the international protest in support of Pussy Riot will only snowball for every day that these musicians are in detention. They will be a focus for ongoing international activism. Whatever happens, Pussy Riot will not be forgotten. Freedom of expression will never be stamped out.

The Independent reported on 22.7.12: 

“Three members of a feminist punk band arrested for singing a protest song in Moscow's main Orthodox church must remain in custody, a court ruled yesterday.

The trio, part of a collective called Pussy Riot, were told they would be kept in detention for a further six months, until at least 12 January. The case involving Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Ekaterina Samutsevich, 29, has split Russian society. The women have been in prison since they were arrested in February for performing an impromptu rendition of a song "Blessed Virgin, Mother Mary, Drive Putin Out!". They sang the "punk prayer" at the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour two weeks before the presidential election that returned Mr Putin to the Kremlin. They could be jailed for seven years if they are convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred".

In media interviews the group members have stated that they protest against, among other things, stifling of freedom of expression and assembly in Russia, the unfair political process and the fabrication of criminal cases against opposition activists.

Yekaterina Samutsevich, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina in court 
(Photo from The Independent 22.7.12.)  
Amnesty International considers the activists to be prisoners of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful expression of their beliefs. Amnesty International Europe and Central Asia Programme Director John Dalhuisen said. “These three activists have now been behind bars for months, awaiting a trial that should not be taking place. Even if the three arrested women did take part in the protest, the severity of the response of the Russian authorities and the detention on the serious criminal charge of hooliganism would not be a justifiable response to the peaceful – if, to many, offensive - expression of their political beliefs. The Russian authorities must drop the charges of hooliganism and immediately and unconditionally release these three women.”

See: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/russia-urged-release-pussy-riot-group-court-prolongs-detention-2012-07-20

Novye Izvestia recalls: “The media also then circulated quotes from the case files where it was said that the Pussy Riot group members 'blasphemously humiliated the age-old foundations of the Russian Orthodox Church' and 'inflicted deep spiritual injuries on Orthodox Christians.' These phrases were included in the text of the indictment. 'Such statements have nothing to do with law or with Orthodoxy,' said lawyer of the girls, Violetta Volkova. In her opinion, this is not about religion, but 'the revival of the Inquisition.'"

Fears of a stiff sentence are not unfounded: an anonymous writer in Komsomolskaya Pravda. (via TASS) says a stiff sentence would be reasonable.“I think that the court has every reason to apply the sanction provided for by the RF Criminal Code Article under which they are charged - seven years in prison,” the lawyer of the complainants Mikhail Kuznetsov said. “Judging by the case materials, by their defiant behavior, the maximum penalty is possible. Seven volumes of the criminal case contain all the evidence, and the whole description of the