Pussy Riot is a Moscow-based feminist punk punk group based in Moscow. Founded in August 2011, it has a variable membership of about 11 women ranging in age from about 20 to 33 (in 2012). The group staged a provocative guerrilla show that was not legitimate in public places, performances that were filmed as music videos and posted on the Internet. Collective lyrical themes include feminism, LGBT rights, and opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is considered a group as a dictator, and his policies. These themes also include Putin's relationship with the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The group gained global fame when the five members of the group held a performance at Mosvi's Christ Cathedral in Moscow on February 21, 2012. The group's actions were condemned as immoral by Orthodox clergy and eventually stopped by church security officials. The women said that their protest was aimed at the support of Orthodox Church leaders for Putin during his election campaign. On March 3, 2012, two members of the group, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were arrested and charged with hooliganism. A third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was arrested on March 16. Refusal was rejected, they were detained until the trial began in late July. On August 17, 2012, three members were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred", and each was sentenced to two years in prison. On October 10, after an appeal, Samutsevich was released on probation and his sentence was suspended. Sentence from two other women upheld.
Trials and sentences attract a lot of attention and criticism, especially in the West. The case was adopted by human rights groups, including Amnesty International, which appointed women as prisoners of conscience, and by a number of prominent entertainers. Public opinion in Russia is generally less sympathetic to them. After 21 months, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina are released on December 23, 2013, after the State Duma approves the amnesty.
In February 2014, a statement was made anonymously on behalf of some Pussy Riot members that both Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were no longer members. However, both were among the group that appeared as Pussy Riot during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, where group members were attacked with whips and pepper spray by Cossacks who were hired as security guards. On March 6, 2014, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were attacked and sprayed with green paint by local youths in Nizhny Novgorod.
Speaking a lot for Western Europeans and North Americans to Russian audiences, in 2016 Pussy Riot anticipated Trump's victory and two weeks before the vote, releasing "Make America Great Again", which portrays the dystopian world where the Trump President imposed his values ​​through beating , embarrassing, and branding by stormtroopers. In depicting the video, Rolling Stone magazine noted that "carefree, exuberant music contrasts with the brutal scenes depicted on the screen."
Video Pussy Riot
Origins
Pussy Riot is a collective formed in August 2011, their names are two English words written in Latin rather than Cyrillic. The title usually appears so in the Russian press, but sometimes the name is transliterated as "?????????". The group consists of several dozen players and about 15 people who handle the technical work of shooting and editing video posted on the Internet.
Tolokonnikova, her husband, Pyotr Verzilov, and Samutsevich were members of the collective art of anarchist "Voina" from the group's early years in 2007, until the fierce split in 2009. After the split, they formed a separate group based in Moscow, also named "Voina" , saying that they have many rights to use this name as the founder of Voina Oleg Vorotnikov.
Maps Pussy Riot
Music styles and performance
In an interview with Gazeta.ru, a band member described their two-minute concert as a performing arts, creating a picture of "pure protest, saying: super heroes in balaclavas and bright tights acid seizing public space in Moscow." Another band member, who went under the pseudonym Garadzha, told Moskovskiye Novosti newspaper that the group was open to recruiting women with limited musical talent. He said: "You do not have to sing very well.This is punk.You just scream a lot."
The group calls punk rock and oi! bands Angelic Upstarts, Cockney Rejects, Sham 69 and The 4-Skins as their main musical influences. The band also quoted American punk rock band Bikini Kill, performance artist Karen Finley and the 1990s riot movements as an inspiration. They state:
What we have together is the politically correct lyrics, the importance of feminist discourse and the image of non-standard women. The difference is that Bikini Kill is performed in certain music venues, while we hold an unsanctioned concert. Overall, Riot Grrrl is closely tied to Western cultural institutions, which are no equivalent in Russia.
Pussy Riot uses a situation-style guerrilla show. Tolokonnikova states:
Pussy Riot's appearance can be referred to as a dissident art or political action involving an art form. However, our appearance is a kind of civil activity amidst the repression of the corporate political system that directs its power to human rights and civil and political freedom.
Costume
Costumes are usually brightly colored with dresses and tights, even in cold weather, with masked faces by balaclavas. During the interview they use nicknames such as "Balaclava", "Cat", "Seraph", "Terminator", and "Blondie".
Ideology
Civil society
In an email interview with The St. This group explains their political position further, saying that members' perspectives range from anarchist to liberal left, but all united by feminism, anti-authoritarianism and opposition to Putin, whose members regard the continuing "aggressive imperialist politics" from the Soviet Union. Group concerns include education, health care, and power centralization, and this group supports regional autonomy and grassroots organizing. Its members consider unan as a core principle, saying that authorities do not see the demonstrations they perceive as threats and simply ignore them. For this reason, all Pussy Riot performances are illegal and use publicly co-opted spaces. Interviewed by the BBC during the exercises the day before the Christine of the Church of the Savior's show, the band members argued that only clear and illegal acts brought the media attention. In an interview with Slate in spring 2018 during the band's first North American tour Tolokonnikova stated that economic inequality "is a big problem for Pussy Riot", highlighting that such inequality is an important feature of both. Russian and American societies, and discussions about inequality are absent from mainstream political discourse in both the US and Europe. Feminism
The group was partially organized because of anger over what its members saw as a government policy that discriminated against women, citing laws that "place restrictions on legal abortion". According Tolokonnikova, Pussy Riot is "part of the global anti-capitalist movement, which consists of anarchists, Trotskyists, feminists and autonomists." In a February 2012 interview with Pussy Riot's "Serafima" magazine named its main feminist influences as Simone de Beauvoir, Andrea Dworkin, Emmeline Pankhurst, Firestone Shulamith, Kate Millett, Rosi Braidotti and Judith Butler.
Pussy Riot sees themselves as feminist artists influenced by riot movements and musical groups such as Bikini Kill, Oi !, Cockney Rejects and by writers, activists and artists such as Alexandra Kollontai, Judith Butler, Karen Finley, Simone de Beauvoir and Vladimir Bukovsky. The media tends to ignore the meaning behind Pussy Riot's feminism; the cultural context is very different from Western feminism. According to Elianna Kan in American Reader, Pussy Riot feminism focuses on the repressive authoritarian regime that creates ideal ideas of sexism, sex and family life. Pussy Riot tried to explain that feminism in Russia is still a problem and that post-feminism has not been achieved. The Russian cultural context must be acknowledged and its feminist ideas should be seen as different from Western feminism because in places like the United States, feminism evolved into general "women's issues", while in Russia it was not so. In Russia, feminism is seen as something "that can destroy Russia," as Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said.
LGBT issues
Pussy Riot members openly support their LGBT rights, and in 2012 interviews confirmed that the group included at least one member of a sexual minority. Both Tolokonnikova and Samutsevich took part in the banned 2011 Gay Pride rally in Moscow, and were briefly detained after the rally was broken by police. In an interview 2018 Tolokonnikova spoke of the importance of transgender rights to the band, explaining that he rejected gender essentialism and stated that "we believe you do not really have to have a vagina or clitoris to become a woman, and having a clitoris does not have to always make you a woman... We always say that anyone can be in Pussy Riot, and we really mean it.
Songs and videos
Pussy Riot released seven songs and five videos. An Associated Press reporter described them as "undocumented, based on simple riffs and singing like screams" and declares that critics have regarded them as "amateur, provocative and obscene". The A.V. The club described them as "a remarkable band" with "fuzzed-out guitars and classic Riot Grrrl singing". In an opinion for The New York Times, Media Pitchfork reviewer Michael Idov wrote, "valuing [Pussy Riot] on artistic value would be like scolding Yippies because of Pigasus the Immortal, the pig they fought for as president 1968, not a worthy candidate. "
Pussy Riot has not released a conventional album yet. However, their songs are available for free to download on a number of websites, collected together with the title of Ubaya sexista ("Kill the sexist").
On January 31, 2018, Pussy Riot announced their first North American tour.
"Kill Sexis"
On October 1, 2011, Tolokonnikova and Samutsevich gave a lecture on "punk feminism" as a member of Voina. They played the recording of the song "Ubey sexista" ("Kill the Sexist"), charging the players as "a new Russian punk band called Pussy Riot". The song features an extensive sample of the 1979 Cockney Rejects recording "I'm Not a Fool".
"Remove the Pillar Stone"
Their first public show as a member of Pussy Riot was in November 2011. Some masked women did "Osvobodi Bruschatku" ("Unleash the Round Stone") on the scaffolding on the Moscow subway and from the top of the trolley car, tearing down feather pillows, to the train platform below. The song recommended that Russia protest the upcoming parliamentary elections by throwing cobblestones during street clashes. "Your ballot will be used as toilet paper by the Presidential Administration", the group said on its blog. Their first video was uploaded to YouTube on November 6th. The musical tracks once again use extensive sampling, this time from the 1978 Angelic Upstarts recording of "Police Oppression". The videos of the show quickly became viral and aroused interest from the Russian press.
"Kropotkin Vodka"
Later that month the group reappeared, with some members playing "Kropotkin Vodka" on the roof of the car display unit in the luxury store district and in the fashion boutique windows, while the other members took the fire extinguishers into the air. The song takes the title of the Russian anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin, and is metaphorically concerned about the murder of the "rogue Kremlin" by fatal poisoning.
"Death to Prison, Freedom to Protests"
On December 14, 2011, the group appeared on top of a garage next to Moscow's Detention Center detention center. 1, where opposition activists were detained among the detainees. Political activist Alexey Navalny and Ilya Yashin have been arrested a week earlier in a mass protest against the election results of the State Duma. Pussy Riot played their song "Smert tyurme, svobodu protestu"), a pun on the slogans of World War II of Smert fasizmu, svobodu narodu ("Death to fascism, freedom to the people"), and were applauded by inmates watching from inside bars of prison cell windows.
"Putin Zassal"
On January 20, 2012, in what the Associated Press called their "breakthrough performance", eight group members performed a song at Mesto Lobnoye in Red Square, titled "Putin Zassal". The title was translated by a variety of English-language media as "Putin has Self-Defamation", "Putin Chicken Out", "Putin Got Scared" and "Putin Wets Himself". The song calls for a popular uprising against the Russian government and the occupation of the Red Square. According to a member of Pussy Riot identified as "Shayba", the song was inspired by the events of 24 December 2011, in which about 100,000 people attended the anti-Putin rally in central Moscow. He told the Financial Times: "We see how troops move around Moscow, there are helicopters in the sky, the military is wary The regime only wets his pants on that day and the symbol of the regime is Putin." During the show , a member ignited a smoke bomb, which caused Pussy Riot members arrested and briefly arrested on administrative charges, a Russian law term similar to a minor offense or crime. A judge found two members of the group, Galkina and Schebleva, "guilty under article 20.2 of the Administrative Code (violating the rules for rallies and pickets) and imposing a fine of 500 rubles on each."
"Mother of God, Push Putin Away"
On February 21, 2012, as part of a protest movement against the re-election of Vladimir Putin, five women from the group entered the Cathedral of Christ the Savior of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. There was no convention at the hearing at the time, and only a few people were in the cathedral. Letting go of their winter clothes, they wore colorful balacca, walked up the stairs to the altar, and started jumping up and down, punching the air. After less than a minute, they were escorted outside the building by guards. The show was later combined with footage of footage in a different church, identified by Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin as Epiphany Cathedral in Yelokhovo, to make a video clip for the song, which they named "Punk Prayer: Mother of God Drive Putin Away ".
The song, which they describe as punk moleben (the prayer of consecration), borrows its opening melody and refrains from Sergei Rachmaninoff " Bogoroditse Devo, Raduisya " (Ave Maria), from the Night All Night. In the song, they call on the name of the Virgin Mary, urging her to remove Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and to "become a feminist", claiming that she will support them in their protests. They alluded to the close relationship between the church and the KGB ("black robes, gold epaulettes"), criticizing the slowness of many Russians to church ("Parish creeping bowed") and attacking traditionalist church views on women ("So as not to offend His Majesty, childbirth and love "). They use the rough nickname " Sran Gospodnya ", which has been used to translate "holy shit" in Hollywood movies, but rarely used in idiomatic Russian; literally translated as "God's shit". They then explained "This is an idiomatic expression, related to the previous verse - about the patriarchal blend of Moscow and the government." Holy shit "is our evaluation of the situation in this country." They refer to the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill I, as "likes " and accuse him of believing in Putin rather than in God.
The growing relationship between church and state in Russia has been the subject of criticism and protest. The Russian Patriarch Kirill publicly endorsed Putin's 2012 re-election, calling Putin "a miracle of God", which has "mended a historical bent". After the cathedral show, Pussy Riot members said the church was "a weapon in a dirty election campaign" and called Putin "a man who can as far as the truth of God". The show led to the arrest and prosecution of three of their members.
"Putin Turning on Fires"
Pussy Riot released one in August 2012 when a court case against their three members ended. It's called "Putin zazhigayet kostry" ("Putin Lights Up The Fires"), and the lyrics refer to the issues surrounding this case. Among other demands, the lyrics ask that "Seven years [prison] is not enough, give us eighteen!"
"I Can not Breathe"
Pussy Riot released their first song and video in English in February 2015. "I Can not Breathe" is named for the last words Eric Garner said when the New York City Police arrested him to the ground in chokehold. In their music video for this song, band members wore Russian riot police uniforms and were slowly buried alive as they sang. They wear this special uniform because they are worn by Russian police during clashes between police and protesters for change, and to make a statement that illegal violence not only kills the oppressed, but slowly kills the oppressors. According to Alyokokina and Tolokonnikova, "Police, soldiers, agents, they become hostages and are buried with people they kill, both figuratively and literally." The symbolism behind the "Russian Spring" brand cigarettes in the video is that the brand name is the same phrase used by Russian invasion advocates against Ukraine. Pussy Riot is responsible for the concept and production of video, while vocals and lyrics are performed by two other Russian bands, Jack Wood and Scofferlane. With this song, Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova begin to show parallels between police brutality and state persecution in Russia and the United States.
"Chaika (Seagull)"
"Make America Great Again"In response to the nomination of Donald Trump, Pussy Riot released the song and the video "Make America Great Again" in October 2016. This video depicts the dystopian world in which Trump, played by one of the band members, is president. Trump imposes its values ​​through beatings, humiliations, and branding of the victims delivered by stormtroopers. When thugs torture their victims, Pussy Riot sings the following lyrics: "Let other people in./Listen to your women/Stop killing black kids/Make America great again". "Make America Great Again" appeared on the xxx album. Jonas Akerlund directs this video.
"Bad Apples"
In March 2018 Pussy Riot, along with TV on Radio Dave Sitek, released the single and video "Bad Apples". This song is a statement against corruption in the criminal justice system.
Legal issues
Catching for hooliganiam
On February 26, 2012, a criminal case was opened against members of the band who had participated in a Moscow cathedral show on 21 February. On March 3, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, two suspected members of Pussy Riot, were arrested by Russian authorities and accused of hooliganism. Both women initially denied being members of the group and started a hunger strike in protest for being held in jail away from their young children. The defendants were detained without any guarantees. On March 16, another woman, Yekaterina Samutsevich, who was previously examined as a witness in the case, was arrested and charged in the same manner.
Defense lawyer Nikolai Polozov said that both Tolokonnikova and Samutsevich were also members of the Voina group, and both had previously waged an annoying protest at the Tagansky Court building, where they would be tried. He argues that two previous attempts to disrupt the process will bias the judge, and hinder the fair outcome at that location. "I believe that the judge will surely remember my client, and can easily be offended, and therefore can not make an objective decision". The three detained Pussy Riot members were declared political prisoners by the Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners (SPP). On March 25, Amnesty International named them prisoners of conscience because of "the harsh response of the Russian government".
Speaking at a liturgy at the Deposition of the Church of the Moscow Robe on March 21, Patriarch Kirill condemned Pussy Riot's act as blasphemy, saying that "Satan has laughed at us all... We have no future if we allow the taunts in front of the great holy places, and if some people see such mockery as a kind of courage, an expression of political protest, acceptable action, or harmless joke. "Church membership varies in opinion on the case; a petition calling for women to be forgiven was signed by some 5,000 lay members. Patriarch Kirill speaks of "his heart broken with bitterness" when he hears that some Orthodox Christians seek mercy and forgiveness for women.
The official charge against the group was submitted on 4 June, the indictment runs up to 2,800 pages. At the end of June 2012, anxiety over the third detention without setting a trial date and concern over what is considered to be excessive and arbitrary treatment, led to the writing of an open letter. It was signed by prominent opposition figures, as well as by director Fyodor Bondarchuk, Putin's supporters, and actors Chulpan Khamatova and Yevgeny Mironov, both of which have appeared on campaign videos supporting Putin's re-election. Singer Alla Pugachyova appealed on behalf of women, stating that they should be ordered to do community service rather than imprisonment. Meanwhile, Nikita Mikhalkov, head of Russia's Sinematographer Union, stated that she would be happy to sign an open letter against them.
On July 4, the defendants were told they must complete their defense preparations on July 9. They announced a hunger strike in response, saying that two working days were insufficient time to complete their trial defense preparations. On July 21, the court extended their pre-trial detention for another six months.
Trial, confidence, and punishment
The trials of three women begin at the Moscow District Court of Khamovniki on July 30, 2012. Charged with "planned hooliganism conducted by organized groups motivated by religious hatred or hostility," they face possible sentences of up to seven years in prison. In early July, a poll conducted in Moscow found that half of the respondents opposed the trial while 36 percent supported it; the rest are in doubt. Putin stated that while he saw "nothing good" about the band's protests, "Nonetheless, I do not think that they should be judged so hard for this."
The defendants pleaded not guilty, saying that they did not mean their protest to be offensive. "We are singing part of the 'Holy Sals' refrain," Tolokonnikova said in court. "I apologize if I offend anyone with this.This is an idiomatic phrase, related to the previous verse - about the patriarchal blend of Moscow and the government.'Saint shit 'is our evaluation of the situation in this country.This opinion is not blasphemy." Their lawyer states that the state of the case has revived the Soviet-era tradition of the show trials. On August 15, 20 protesters wearing balaclavas gathered to support Pussy Riot at Christ the Savior Cathedral, and held up a banner reading "Blessed are merciful". The cathedral keeper quickly moved against the protesters, trying to hold them back and let go of their balaclavas.
Pussy Riot said their protest was a political statement, but prosecutors said the band was trying to "incite religious hatred" against the Orthodox Church. In "Putin Zassal", Pussy Riot has declared "Orthodox Religion is a hardened penis/Forcing its people to accept conformity", among other examples of the group's antagonism to the Church as an organization, which it considers corrupt. Thus the central issues of the case are the definition of "hatred" of a religion, and whether blasphemy can exist in a secular state. Pavel Chikov, Chair of the Agora Human Rights Association, said defense attorneys were able to maximize publicity by creating "massive public condemnation of the case", but at the expense of the accused's responsibility.
All three were convicted by a judge and sentenced to two years in a prison colony on August 17, 2012. The judge stated that they had "violently ruined the social order" by their protests, showing "a complete lack of respect" for believers. Mark Feygin, a lawyer for the trio, stated that they would appeal the verdict, but that "Under no circumstances will the girls apologize [from Putin]... They will not beg and humiliate themselves before bastard like that ". Tolokonnikova stated that "Our prisons serve as a clear and unambiguous sign that freedom is taken from across the country."
Both the supporters and critics of the band demonstrated in their verdict trial. Opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov, who protested support for the band, was detained by police. Former world chess champion and longtime opposition member Garry Kasparov, who tried to attend the verdict, was arrested and beaten.
Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin described the verdict as "another blow to the judicial system and the trust of citizens in it", which is detrimental to the country's international image. Putin replied that religious organizations should be protected, because "this country has very serious memories of the early period of the Soviet government, when a large number of priests suffered, many churches were destroyed and all our traditional beliefs suffered great damage.
Appeal to City Court of Moscow
On October 1, 2012, an appeal court was adjourned in the Moscow City Court (district court, similar to the republic's supreme court) after Samutsevich notified a panel of three judges that he wanted to end the representation of his defense lawyer as "My position in criminal cases is incompatible with their position. "
In an interview for his 60th birthday broadcast on October 7, shortly before the appeal was heard, Putin said that Pussy Riot had "undermined the moral foundations" of the country and that they "got what they asked for". In response, Pussy Riot lawyer Violetta Volkova accused Putin of pressuring the court.
On October 10, new lawyer Samutsevich, Irina Khrunova, stated that her client was not acting hooliganism in the church as she was prevented from accessing church security protection. The courts seem to accept this argument, and release Samutsevich in a two-year trial. However, the judges rejected Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina's requests, upholding their convictions and penalties.
Writing for The New Republic, Russian-American journalist Julia Ioffe commented that by stating that Samutsevich was innocent because he did not participate, Khrunova's defense had implied that Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina had actually committed a crime, and had been cut off "one the path to redemption that the group really: ignores the court process and denies its legitimacy ". Some commentators see the unexpected release of Samutsevich as a tactic of division and rule on the authorities. Details then arise from allegedly Nasedka ("hen"), a prisoner who spies on fellow inmates and manipulates them to cooperate with authorities in exchange for privileges and early parole. A convicted fraud named Irina Orlova is placed in the same cell as Samutsevich, where he seems to gain his trust and persuade him to change lawyers. Any allegations of an agreement with the authorities would require Samutsevich to publicly denounce his former lawyer.
Prison
Initial reports indicate that women will serve their sentences in one of three provinces. The decision of the coronation of the public safety coronation of women security (the most common type of prison in Russia) in the Republic of Mordovia, about 400 kilometers from Moscow, was later confirmed by the husband of Tolokonnikova. The women asked the authorities to let them serve their sentences at a pre-adjudication detention facility in Moscow. Their request was rejected, and Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were then sent to a penal colony in Mordovia and Perm Oblast, respectively.
The IK-2 and IK-14 criminal colonies in Yavas, Zubovo-Polyansky District, Mordovia, are the most common destinations for female prisoners convicted in Moscow. This is the location of the former Dubravlag work camp complex of the Gulag system. Tolokonnikova was imprisoned in IK-14 , while Alyokhina was sent to IK-32 in Perm. The latter is a colony for first-time offenders, which houses sewing plants, and an experimental vocational program to retrain female prisoners to become cartoon digital animators. The conditions at IK-32 were relatively favorable, and neither the prisoners nor the human rights monitors made a complaint about his condition. Meanwhile, IK-14 has a stronger reputation.
In November 2012, Alyokhina asked to be placed voluntarily in solitary confinement, calling "tense relations" with fellow prisoners. Tolokonnikova has also experienced friction with inmates at IK-14, who have considered her "the best with humiliation, the worst with hostility," according to a report by Aleksey Baranovsky, Coordinator of the Center for Human Rights "Russian Decision".
On September 23, 2013, Tolokonnikova announced that he was on a hunger strike in protest over alleged human rights abuses in prison. The translation of his letter describing the condition of the prison was published in The Guardian . On September 27, 2013, he was placed in a medical ward after not eating for five days.
Experiment reaction
In response to questions posed by the Guardian and submitted to the band through their lawyer, Pussy Riot accused Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church of orchestrating the case. Samutsevich said in December 2012 that "more than anything, what many people do not see during the trial is the time when our 'right to defend' is violated, not because we are powerless, it is a desperate situation." In an interview with The Guardian, he continued: "The court is built so that we can not defend ourselves They do not listen to us We can sit downstairs where you wait until you are taken to the courtroom , and do not go in at all and everything will go the same way.The fact that we took part physically [in court] does not actually change anything. "
Russian human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva called the ruling politically motivated and "inconsistent with law, common sense or compassion". Opposition activist Alexey Navalny describes Pussy Riot as "a fool who commits petty crimes for publicity", but opposes the verdict, which he believes has been "written by Vladimir Putin" as "revenge", since the action is not sufficiently socially dangerous to justify keeping woman behind bars. The Russian fiction writer, Boris Akunin, attended a rally on faith day and said, "Putin has punished himself in a year and a half more shame and international humiliation." Irina Yarovaya, a representative of Russia's Putin Union parliament, praised the belief, stating that "they deserve it". On September 13, 2012, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev called for women's early exemption, saying that the time they had served to wait for the trial was sufficient punishment, and further detention would be "counterproductive". On November 2, he said that he would not send three members of the Pussy Riot to jail, reiterating that their pre-trial detention was sufficient, but stressed that releasing the remaining two prisoners was a matter for the court.
The foreign ministry of the United States and EU countries called the sentence "disproportionate". President Barack Obama expressed his disappointment, and the White House stated that it has "serious concerns about the way these young women are treated by the Russian justice system."
According to BBC Monitoring, in the European and American press there is an "almost universal condemnation" of a two-year sentence imposed on three group members. While many newspaper editorials and columns of critical opinion on performance at the cathedral, very few would expect a two-year jail sentence to be the right punishment, arguing that the act should be treated as a crime of public order and punished by a fine or a community. service.
Simon Jenkins of The Guardian argues that the Westerner is hypocritical, in the overly harsh prison it is totally unknown in the Western countries. Some in the media also voiced concern that the place of worship is not the right place for any kind of protest, and that the cause of Pussy Riot does not justify their actions morally. The Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI expressed his solidarity with the Russian Orthodox Church's position on "vandalism" at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and expressed surprise at the reaction of some media organizations to these events.
Trial after
On June 30, 2013, Vladimir Putin signed a law imposing imprisonment and penalties for insulting the religious feelings of the people, who some regarded as a response to "punk prayer" performed by Pussy Riot on Moscow's cathedral. In the "Live TV" (Russian: "?????? ????") show on September 30, 2013, by TV channel Rossiya 1, Maria Alyokhina promises not to perform any more shows in churches. "We have noticed the fact that, since 2013, it has been a crime, and we have repeatedly heard opinions from those we consider seriously. This is basically the reason why we will not go to the Cathedral of Christ again - no doubt, to another church in this case, "Alyokhina said.
Although they will be released in March 2014, on December 19, 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin announces that Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina will be released under general amnesty. Putin said the amnesty was not drawn up with Pussy Riot in mind but to mark the 20th anniversary of Russia's post-Soviet constitution. The amnesty announcement came during Putin's press conference where he revealed plans to free some other prominent political prisoners in Russia, such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky and members of Greenpeace.
Internal dispute
In a letter from the prison after their sentence was upheld, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina did not acknowledge the actions of Tolokonnikova's husband Verzilov, accusing him of choosing Pussy Riot by acting as his vocalist without their consent: "His statement is false, in the name of providing the founder and legal representative of Pussy Riot, Actually, Pyotr Verzilov has occupied Pussy Riot through a strange activity, pretending this.As a representative of the group, I am angry. "Samutsevich expressed surprise at the letter, while Verzilov declined to comment, saying" I do not understand. know what's going on ". The week before, Verzilov himself had released a statement to the Echo of Moscow radio station, stating that he was not a member or representative of Pussy Riot.
The trademark dispute arose in October and November 2012, when it was found that the group defender's lawyer, Mark Feygin, had attempted to register "Pussy Riot" as a trademarked name in Russia. On April 6, 2012, Feygin signed up with Rospatent without the knowledge of his client, seeking to assign the brand to his wife's company Natalia Kharitanova-Feygin. This will give them the exclusive right to manufacture Pussy Riot branded products. In addition, Kharitanova-Feygin has received an advance payment of 30,000 euros to produce a film about Pussy Riot trials, with an additional 170,000 euros paid out after the completion of the contract, and 40 percent of video sales profits worldwide. The trademark application was denied by Rospatent, leaving the final fate of the Pussy Riot brand, estimated without a $ 1 million promotion, yet to be decided.
On November 19, Feygin and two other indigenous lawyers for Pussy Riot resigned from the case before Tolokonnikova's appeal, stating that they felt the court would be more likely to appeal if all three were no longer part of the defense. Samutsevich criticized the original legal team for allegedly using the trial for personal publicity rather than securing the release of the defendants. On Nov. 21, Samutsevich's lawyer told the press that Samutsevich was considering asking Feygin and other indigenous lawyers to be fired for failing to return passports and other items. Feygin responded via Twitter that Samutsevich was part of a "slander campaign organized by the authorities", while another member of the legal team, Violeta Volkova, replied that the claim was "part of a deal that allowed him to break free of the case". On January 21, 2013, Feygin, Volkova, and Nicholas Polozov filed a lawsuit against Khrunova and Kommersant for defamation.
In a letter dated February 1, 2013 and published by his father on the Echo of Moscow website, Tolokonnikova alienated himself from Samutsevich, saying "Samutsevich has not written to me for two months, that for me he is dead, there will be no more collaboration after this. "
Public opinion in Russia
The court's decision awakened a "little sensation" inside the country. Many Russians are angered by Pussy Riot church protests and support the "majority right to worship in peace". The Soviet government had destroyed the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in the 1930s (rebuilt in the 1990s), adding a sense of location to believers. At the end of the trial, a series of Levada Center polls showed that, of the 1,600 Russians surveyed in 45 cities across the country, 42% were also convinced Pussy Riot had been arrested for insulting the holy sites and trust of the Orthodox Church. Meanwhile, 29% see it as a case of general hooliganism, while only 19% see it as a political protest against Putin. The overall opinion is for the most part negative or indifferent. Only 6% sympathize with Pussy Riot, while 41% feel antipathy towards them. 44% believe the trials are "fair and impartial", while 17% believe it is not. Of those who followed the case, 86% favored some form of punishment, ranging from prison to forced labor or fines, while 5% said they should not be punished at all. A prison sentence of 2 to 7 years is deemed appropriate by 33%, while 43% see two or more years as excessive, and another 15% say that the defendants should not be tried in court. A study conducted by the Exovera company noted that, in an online discussion forum, "there is a clear awareness to be judged by the global community, whose responses are referred to in some cases as 'hysterical' and unfair."
Public conservatism was criticized by some Russian commentators. Levada Center's director Lev Gudkov commented on the result, stating that most Russians get their information from television and therefore consider it to be in accordance with the "official version" of the country.
In a statement published after the sentence was announced, the Russian Orthodox Church stated that while Pussy Riot's actions allude to "millions of people," the Church calls "the state authorities to show mercy to those who are punished within the framework of the law, in the hope that they will refrain from repeating the act of blasphemy. "Vsevolod Chaplin, chair of the Synod Department for Church Cooperation and the Moscow Patriarchal Society, accused Pussy Riot of defaming religion, insulting believers and" destroying hatred between believers and atheists. "
Pussy Riot and Voina
The relationship between Pussy Riot and the Voina political performance arts group was highlighted by some group critics, calling it a "burdensome moral situation" in the eyes of a conservative public (which is about 60 percent of Russians). Members Pussy Riot Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich were members of Voina from 2007 until the group split up in 2009, and participated in a number of provocative art performances of Voina.
Tolokonnikova is part of the show where the couple photographed having sex at the Timiryazev State Biological Museum in Moscow in February 2008. This show-off is intended as a satire of Dmitry Medvedev's call to improve the birth rate in Russia, but is usually described as a "feast" by the media. President Putin, in an interview about whether the prison sentence is justified, also appealed to the previous defendant's actions in the Voina action: "They held a group sex session in a public place and then uploaded it to the internet authorities should see in this case too."
Some critics have made little or no difference between Pussy Riot and Voina, incorrectly associating the actions of Voina with Pussy Riot in the past. In particular, the famous performance by Voina in St. Petersburg, where a woman steals chicken from a supermarket by putting it into her vagina, sometimes cited by Pussy Riot's detector. However, there is no evidence that Moscow-based Pussy Riot members participated in this action.
International support
During the trial, three women became an international cause cà © lÃÆ'¨bre due to their care. Many international artists, politicians and musicians voiced support for the release of Pussy Riot, or expressed concerns about the fairness of their trial, including Madonna, who openly declared his support at a Moscow concert, BjÃÆ'¶rk, which dedicated his song "Declaration of Independence" to their cause and invited them to join him onstage to perform songs with him, Paul McCartney, and Aung San Suu Kyi. While acknowledging support, Pussy Riot members distanced themselves from Western artists and repeated their rejection of the capitalist art model as a commodity: One of them, identified as Orange, said:
We are honored, of course, that Madonna and BjÃÆ'¶rk have offered to perform with us. But the only performances we will follow are the ones that are illegal. We refuse to appear as part of the capitalist system, at concerts where they sell tickets.
The French singer, Mireille Mathieu, who often performs in Russia, is one of the few Western entertainers who speak out against Pussy Riot, saying that they have been blasphemous. However, she asks for "pleasure" (generosity or sorry) for three women.
From 2012 to 2014, The Voice Project coordinates donations through international legal defense and support funds for Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina during their imprisonment, supporting women's legal expenses, giving them supplies while in prison and childcare camps, in addition to security monitoring by lawyers local Russia. The Voice Project also conducted a number of viral campaigns in advocacy for women during their imprisonment, such as "Where is Nadya?" campaign, for 26 days the disappearance of Tolokonnikova after a hunger strike, where he was transferred to the Krasnoyarsk prison hospital. During the imprisonment of Tolokonnikova, the Voice Project also made an urgent appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan E. MÃÆ' Â © ndez, requested that the United Nations press on the Russian Federation to uphold international law on human rights and torture with respect to minimum standards established by the UN Protocol and The European Convention on Human Rights.
A letter of support from 120 members of the German parliament, the Bundestag, was sent to the Russian Ambassador to Germany, Vladimir Grinin. It describes the process of women as disproportionate and cruel. On August 9, 2012, 200 Pussy Riot supporters in Berlin lined up, wearing colored balaclavas, to show support for the group. Attending the trial, the UK MP and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Shadow for Human Rights, Kerry McCarthy, also supported the group, describing the process as "real". Lech Wa ?? sa criticized the church's performance as "bland", but wrote to Putin urging him to forgive the women.
Amnesty International called the belief "a bitter blow to freedom of expression". Hugh Williamson, of Human Rights Watch, states that "accusations and decisions... distort facts and laws.... These women should never be charged with the crime of hatred and should be released immediately." ARTICLE 19, Freedom House, and the International Federation for Human Rights also issued statements condemning the sentence. On September 21, 2012, Feminist Press published an e-book entitled Pussy Riot! Punk Prayer for Freedom to raise funds for the defense team of the law.
On September 22, Yoko Ono handed LennonOno Grant for Peace's biennial band, stating that he intended to work for the group's immediate release. In October 2012, Pussy Riot was announced as a finalist for Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament for Freedom of Thinking, named for Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov. The prize was eventually handed over to Iran's human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and filmmaker Jafar Panahi. The town of Wittenberg, where Martin Luther nailed his Ninety Five Theses to the church door, nominated Pussy Riot for Martin Luther's annual "Fearless Speech" award. The nomination provoked opposition from many theologians, including the leadership of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). In November, the prize was awarded to a group of Regensburg restaurant owners for an anti-Nazi campaign.
While attending the Women in the World Summit in New York on April 4, 2014, Hillary Clinton posed with band members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina for a picture which she later posted on Twitter. Clinton called Pussy Riot a group of "strong and courageous young women" who "refuse to let their voices be silenced."
Protests and peripheral events
Protests were held around the world after the penalty was announced. Amnesty International announces August 17 "Pussy Riot Global Day" for activists. People gathered in New York City, where actress ChloÃÆ'§ Sevigny, Karen Finley and others read statements from band members who were punished. In Bulgaria, people put on a mask, similar to that worn by Pussy Riot, on a Soviet statue. About 100 people protested outside the Russian consulate in Toronto. In Edinburgh, Scotland, Fringe players read testimonials. In Serbia, the right-wing activist group Rice released a video game in which Pussy Riot members were targeted; the group spoke to support the trio jail. Meanwhile, the Estonian programmer launched a replica of the Internet game "Angry Birds", mocking the Russian authorities.
In Kiev, Inna Shevchenko, a topless feminist activist from the FEMEN group, used a saw to destroy a wooden statue of Christ as high as four meters above a cross, on a hill overlooking the city center. The Cross was established during the 2004-2005 Orange Revolution, to commemorate the victims of Stalin's oppression. The blasphemy of the cross was rejected by Maria Alyokhina of Pussy Riot, who said: "Their shocking appearance and protest against authoritarianism resemble us, but we see feminism differently, especially the form of speech We will not take off our clothes, and will not. they, sawing the cross, did not create a sense of solidarity, unfortunately. "
In August, at the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. there were protests and concerts by punk bands. On August 19, two men and a woman dressed as Pussy Riot protested during a service at the Cologne Cathedral of Germany. The trio shouted slogans and raised banners reading "Free Pussy Riot and all prisoners" in English. They were taken out by the cathedral officials and later charged with disrupting religious services and violating the peace. KÃÆ'¶lner Stadt-Anzeiger, a local newspaper, reported that "disrupting the religious establishment" could result in fines or up to three years in prison; they were finally given a suspended fine of 1,200 Euro and 3 months probation. Allegations of attack were dropped. One of the three, identified as "Patrick H.", appeals against his convictions and punishments; the court upheld his conviction and changed his sentence by a fine of 150 Euros.
The cross was also cut in at least four locations in Russia. A United Russia lawmaker stated that the incident was inspired by Pussy Riot, calling the action "Satanism true". Orthodox conservative activists staged a counter-demonstration, stormed into Riot Pussy's show at a theater, and shouted slogans like "Repent," and "Why do you hate the Russians?" An art museum curated by gallerists who have supported Pussy Riot was also attacked.
In early September 2012, unknown vandals attracted a "caricature of feminist" from Santo Nino at the Qvashveti Church in Tbilisi, Georgia, accompanied by the English words "Free Pussy Riot!" On September 16th, Yuri Pyotrovsky, a resident of St. The 62-year-old Petersburg man who lives in Germany, poured ink over an icon in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to support Pussy Riot. He was charged under Criminal Code article for hooliganism. Maria Alyokhina explicitly condemned the cross cut and splashed the ink on the icon during a failed appeal against her sentence on October 10.
On 31st of October 2012, Comedy Central aired the episode of South Park "A Scause for Plause", which ended with Jesus tearing off his cloak to reveal the slogan "Free Pussy Riot". This episode explores the need of people to believe in a greater reason than themselves and our tendency to abandon common sense to support these causes.
In August 2013, there was the Rias Pussy Solidarity Concert, outside the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Pussy Riot! Punk Prayer for Freedom
On September 21, 2012, Femist Press released an ebook titled Pussy Riot! The Punk Prayer for Freedom composed writing about the punk collective. This book is a compilation of band lyrics and poems along with letters and material collected from the proceedings. Tribut by figures like Yoko Ono, Eileen Myles, Johanna Fateman, Karen Finley, Justin Vivian Bond, and JD Samson are also included. The press worked closely with the band members, and the proceeds from book sales were given to support Pussy Riot's legal defense. This book was released in print in February 2013. Contains a statement from the October 10 appeal, the printed version also includes a new tribute by Bianca Jagger, Peaches & amp; Simonne Jones, Tobi Vail, Barbara Browning, and Vivien Goldman.
Word Will Break the Cement: Passion of Pussy Riot
In 2014, Riverside Press published Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot by Russian lesbian journalist Masha Gessen. Through interviews with band members, family members and their friends, Gessen captured the biography of Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alyokhina, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and how they formed Pussy Riot. Gessen provides historical, cultural, and political contexts for band protests, performances, and music, and also includes their arrest and prison time.
Documentary movie
In January 2013, a film about the Pussy Riot case was released by British documentary filmmaker Roast Beef Productions. The job title is Show Trial: Acts of Real Riot ; later released as Pussy Riot: Prayer Punk . The film was directed by Mike Lerner and Maksim Pozdorovkin, and featured public footage of court proceedings and interviews with family members of the band, but no interviews with the band members themselves. It debuted at the Sundance 2013 film festival, after which Pussy Riot Yekaterina Samutsevich asked questions from viewers via Skype. Among other things, he reiterated that he had no intention of turning Pussy Riot into a commercial venture. The film won a Special Film Jury Award for World Cinema for "Punk Spirit" at the festival. The HBO network then bought US television rights to the film despite its critical critical reviews. BBC shows the film in October 2013; lucrative English newspaper reviews. The film is included in 15 short listed documentaries for the Academy Award 2014, but does not make the final list of nominees.
Pussy versus Putin is a 2013 documentary that records group history, directed by Russian film Gogol's Wives. The film received an IDFA NTR Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary at the Amsterdam International Filmary Document Festival 2013.
MediaZona
In 2014, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Pyotr Verzilov founded MediaZona, an independent Russian news site focusing on violations and corruption in the criminal justice system.
Next court case and other events
Claim for moral damage
In August 2012, Novosibirsk resident Irina Ruzankina filed a claim for 30,000 rubles (about $ 1,000) for moral damages, claiming that Pussy Riot's video had caused her headache and increased blood pressure. The claim was rejected by the Kuntsevo District Court in Moscow on September 7, 2012. Similar claims by Berdsk residents Yuri Zadoy and Novosibirsk resident Ivan Krasnitsky were dismissed by the same court on October 3, just as the next appeal by Ruzankina to the Moscow City Court on February 18, 2013.
Video decision of extremists
In early November 2012 prosecutors applied under anti-extremism laws to the Zamoskvoretsky District Court to ban several videos of Pussy Riot, including a video of the group's show at Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The material extremist found by the court was added to the Federal List of Extremist Materials maintained by the Department of Justice, potentially making it a criminal offense to disseminate it within Russia. After the November 29 trial, four Pussy Riot videos, including "punk prayers", were declared extremists. The rules limit access to videos and to the Pussy Riot LiveJournal blog and other websites.
Damir Gainutdinov from the human rights group Agora argues that anti-extremism laws are being improperly applied, saying "Everyone says that the [Cathedral of Christ the Savior] video is hurting the feelings of religious people, but it does not contain a call to extremist action, so it can not be an extremist ". Yekaterina Samutsevich called the verdict a "direct recognition of artistic censorship" in Russia.
Request for suspension of sentences
In the case of the mother of a small child, Russian law allows for a reprieve of imprisonment until the child reaches the age of 14. Such a request was controversially granted in 2011 to Anna Shavenkova, who has been sentenced to two years and six months in jail. for motor vehicle killing. It is alleged that his request was granted because of his family connections.
On October 19, 2012, the Khamovniki District Court in Moscow rejected a request for a suspended sentence filed by Violetta Volkova on behalf of Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina, arguing that the case was not included in its jurisdiction. Tolokonnikova subsequently appealed to the Zubovo-Polyansky District Court in Mordovia, where he was imprisoned, and Alyokhina with the Berezniki District Court in Perm. Alyokhina's appeal was rejected on January 16, 2013, the judge declared that the presence of her child had been taken into account during the original sentence.
On July 24, 2013, the Russian court dismissed appeal by Maria Alyokhina against the previous court ruling which denied her acquittal earlier with conditional release.
Exempt from jail
On December 19, 2013, the state Duma approved a general amnesty for various detainees; among those eligible for amnesty are those imprisoned for non-violent offenses and mothers of young children. It is hoped that Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina will be among those released. Their release is confirmed on December 23, 2013.
After his release, Alyokhina went to meet with human rights activists. "We are not apologizing, I will sit here until the end of my punishment because I do not need mercy from Putin," Maria Alyokhina told the New York Times after her release. "I think it's an attempt to improve the image of the current government, a little bit, before the Sochi Olympics - especially for Western Europe, but I do not think it's human or loving. Tolokonnikova also said, "Whether people like it or not, going to the Olympics in Russia is acceptance of the internal political situation in Russia, acceptance of courses taken by people interested in the Olympics above all - Vladimir Putin."
Both said they would not perform at the show but started an organization to work for better conditions for inmates and that they still wanted Putin to be expelled from the government. Both said that Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky was their role model, a man Tolokonnikova said was a "champion of human rights unaffected by fear."
Amnesty International concert and controversy membership
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina participated in the Amnesty International concert on February 6, 2014 at Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York City. They were invited to the stage by Madonna. On the same day a group of anonymous participants from the Pussy Riot group who avoided the demand for their performance issued an open letter protesting the Benchmark
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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