Russia's "Pussy Riot" on trial for cathedral protest

[cali]

Three women who protested against Vladimir Putin in a "punk prayer" on the altar of Russia's main cathedral went on trial on Monday in a case seen as a test of the longtime leader's treatment of dissent during a new presidential term.

The women from the band 'Pussy Riot' face up to seven years in prison for an unsanctioned performance in February in which they entered Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral, ascended the altar and called on the Virgin Mary to "throw Putin out!"

Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, were brought to Moscow's Khamovniki court for Russia's highest-profile trial since former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was convicted in 2010, for a second time, in the same courtroom where the Pussy Riot trial began.

Supporters chanted "Girls, we're with you!" and "Victory!" as the women, each handcuffed by the wrist to a female officer, were led from a white and blue police van into the courthouse through a side entrance. Streets around the court, on a high Moscow River embankment, were closed.

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http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/07/30/entertainment-us-russia-pussyriot-trial-idINBRE86S0AZ20120730

[cali]

1. this case is such an outrage and truly chilling.

these three young women have been imprisoned for the last 6 months and are being treated like violent and dangerous offenders.

Fuck Putin to the painful max.

[redgreenandblue]

2. What are they charged with?

edit: my bad, should have read the article. so "unsanctioned performance" yields years in prison? truly fucked up.

[cali]

3. They were arrested in March

for performing an anti-Putin "prayer" in a cathedral. They are charged with hooliganism is what the articles I've read say. They've all 3 been denied bail. They could get up to 7 years each.

[redgreenandblue]

5. I sincerely hope that the sacrifices of such brave people will eventually bring change to Russia.

This kind of strikes a nerve with me. I've had my own personal experiences with the youth of Russia and Belarus that gave me a small glimpse of the hardships they face. The post-soviet governments are denying them the opportunity to embrace modern times.

Like in the US, the biggest obstacle are old men with nostalgia about "the old ways".

[cali]

6. It just makes me furious.

I shudder to think of their treatment in prison.

[Posteritatis]

9. It amounts to a lese majeste charge. (nt)

[Quantess]

4. Talk about overreacting, on Putin's part. They did hardly anything.

Ridiculous.

[cali]

7. freeps want them to rot in jail.

Sorry, Pussy Riot desecrated the Russian Orthodox Church. They can rot in prison for all I care.
4 posted on Monday, July 30, 2012 6:18:23 AM by Cowboy Bob (Greed + Envy = Liberalism)
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[knitter4democracy]

8. I'm Russian Orthodox (a convert, granted). So what?

Yes, it was done in the Patriarch's church, and that's a big deal, but honestly, there is a history of Russian protest in churches.

Prayer of any kind cannot desecrate holy ground. They didn't do anything to actually desecrate the holy altar from what I've read, so this is ridiculous. It's about silencing dissent, pure and simple. I hope brave Christians there stand with Pussy Riot, because if they'll come for dissenting women, Christians are next.

Edited to add: There are still many in Russia who remember how the Church had all kinds of ties to the KGB (priests, bishops, even patriarchs who were KGB agents and not just in name only), and there are still those who don't trust the Church because of that. Many of us have been privately disappointed in the election of Patriarch Kirill, as he seems to want to move the Church back to those days or worse. This is just yet another sign that things are not healthy or good in the Church.