Just days before Putin’s third re-election, a group of political activists called Pussy Riot performed a “punk prayer” titled “Mother of God, Banish Putin,” in Russia’s holiest site – the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.
Posts Tagged ‘RUSSIA EXTENDS JAIL TIME FOR ROCK’N’ROLL PROTESTERS ‘PUSSY RIOT’’
Pussy Riot won’t be quiet
August 22, 2012Putin entre el rap y el punk feminista Pussy Riot
August 5, 2012U.S. State Department officials said that they were concerned about “Pussy”. What can we say in response? Only one thing – try to be less concerned, and this too, will pass. The same can be said for the legion of supporters of Pussy Riot. They rave themselves horse claiming that even if the Russian believers were outraged with the “concert” of the band at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, then it is their problem.
Such “cleverness,” was blurted out by the chairman of the Bar Association of Russia “For Human Rights” Evgeny Arkhipov, who said in an interview with RBC Daily that the apologies of Pussy Riot became a “fatal legal error.” According to the lawyer, as long as the “punk prayer service” was not meant to hurt the feelings of the Orthodox believers, then there was no need for the band to apologize: “If they are offended – it’s their problem. I do not understand the words of regret. As a lawyer, I would not allow this position.” Well, thank you, Mr. Arkhipov, for not saying that the believers could go to hell. As they say, one does not need prosecutors with lawyers like that.
The defendants, nevertheless, opted for a “legal error”, although with reservations. In particular, one of the band members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, put it this way: “We did not say insulting words to church believers and God in the temple. The words that we said and the whole expression of our punk performance had the goal to share our disapproval of a specific political event with audiences. We had no idea that a punk performance could seriously hurt someone. And if anyone was offended with our performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, then I am ready to admit that we made an ethical mistake … ”
Another member of the notorious collective, Maria Alyokhina, shares a similar point of view: “If religious people were offended with the fact that we went behind the enclosure and climbed onto the pulpit, having it in mind as the stage, then I apologize for that…”
Russia Россия extends detention for ‘Pussy Riot’
June 26, 2012A Russian court on Wednesday extended by a month the detention of female members of the Pussy Riot punk rock group amid protests as they await trial for singing an anti-Vladimir Putin song in a cathedral.
Police said they detained around 20 people outside Moscow’s Tagansky district court after supporters sang couplets of the group’s song and a pro-Kremlin youth group held placards saying “Heretics, know the law!”.
Those detained including several Russian Orthodox activists, Novaya Gazeta daily reported. Several protesters had smeared cosmetic masks on their faces, in a dig at a new law forbidding people at rallies from wearing masks.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alekhina, initially arrested in early March, had their pre-trial detention extended until July 24, adding a month to a previous extension, the RAPSI legal news agency reported.