Feminist rockers who face a possible seven years in prison

[serbian army]

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court on Friday launched the trial of three feminist rockers who face a possible seven years in prison for performing a "punk prayer" against Vladimir Putin from the pulpit of Russia's largest cathedral.
The case of the three members of the band [censored] Riot has deeply divided Russia, pitting advocates of openness against the forces of order and the powerful Russian Orthodox Church. The three had been held in jail for more than four months without a single court hearing.
The February stunt, two weeks before the election that returned Putin to the presidency, was designed to offend. Five members of [censored] Riot — wearing brightly colored balaclavas and miniskirts — briefly took over the pulpit at Christ The Savior Cathedral, chanting "Mother Mary, drive Putin away" and high-kicking cancan-style.
What happened after security guards seized the five was extraordinary — even for a country whose leaders have shown little patience for protest. Three of the band members, two of whom have young children, were thrown into jail and face charges of hooliganism that could bring them seven years if convicted.
Supporters of the three say their jailing and charges are a draconian demonstration of how the church holds heavy sway in the government.
At Friday's preliminary hearing, prosecutors asked that the women — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, Maria Alekhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29 — be held in custody for at least six more months as the trial progresses. Defense attorneys have repeatedly asked for them to be released, in particular so they can take care of their young children.
The Khamovniki District Court building on Friday was surrounded by dozens of riot policemen, along with the band's supporters and critics. The court proceedings were closed to the public.
Amnesty International said on Friday that it considers the three women to be prisoners of conscience "detained solely for the peaceful expression of their beliefs." The organization renewed its call on Russian authorities to drop the charges of hooliganism and release the band members.
The church says the women deserve to be prosecuted for their "blasphemous" performance from a place near the altar on which no lay people are allowed to stand. But thousands of believers have signed a petition urging the church to forgive the band.
Although church and state are separate under Russia's constitution, the Russian Orthodox Church has claimed a leading role in setting moral guidelines for society. Its growing prominence has caused concern among followers of minority faiths and nonreligious Russians.
The case has particularly rattled the Russian intelligentsia. In late June, over one hundred artists and intellectuals — pro- and anti-Putin alike — sent an open letter to the state, calling for the women's release.
In a poll by the independent Levada Center and released by the prominent newspaper Kommersant on Friday, 50 percent of Muscovites said they did not support a criminal trial for the members of [censored] Riot, with 36 percent supporting the trial.
[censored] Riot gained notoriety about a month before the arrest by performing a song titled "Putin Chickens Out" from a spot on Red Square used in czarist Russia for announcing government decrees. Videos of their performances became instant Internet hits.
On Wednesday, the chairman for the parliamentary committee for Family, Women and Children issues Elena Mizulina, called for authorities to look into earlier alleged misbehavior of the three women, who were participants in Voina (War), an art-protest group.
Among the group's most noted outrageous acts was the drawing of an enormous phallus on a drawbridge in St. Petersburg. Tolokonnikova was among the participants in a 2008 obscene "fertility rite" at Moscow museum, mocking Dmitry Medvedev, who was elected Russian president the next day. Alekhina released a video for the group in which she masturbated in a grocery store with a chicken leg.
The three women face criminal charges for "hooliganism." The language of both state officials and the prosecution has been more moralistic than legal.
"This is only the small, visible tip of an iceberg of extremists," Mikhail Kuznetsov, a lawyer representing church security guards, said in an interview with the newspaper Moscow News on Thursday. "They are aiming to destroy the thousand-year-old traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church, to provoke a schism, and to deceivingly bring the flock not towards God, but towards Satan."

I say that 7 years in jail is not a harsh for what they have done. What do you think?

[Zelhar]

They should be Freed. If Russia was anywhere near a free country such thing would never happened there.

[serbian army]

They should be Freed. If Russia was anywhere near a free country such thing would never happened there.

Interesting observation. What is your opinion if someone would do this very same thing at The Western Wall in Israel?
Just to say this satanic act was done in MAIN Cathedral...

[syyuge]

The requisite effect would have been most impressive, if the said act was performed at the Red Square.

[Zelhar]

Interesting observation. What is your opinion if someone would do this very same thing at The Western Wall in Israel?
Just to say this satanic act was done in MAIN Cathedral...

Unfortunately the western wall and the temple mount have seen much MUCH worse then a pack of guitar wielding punk-rocksters. They should be arrested and fined or jailed for a short time. And the Church perhaps should increase the security in the place.

They made a commotion but they did no damage to the property nor attempted to. They are persecuted so severely because they dared to criticize the Tzar Vladimir Putin.

[serbian army]

Unfortunately the western wall and the temple mount have seen much MUCH worse then a pack of guitar wielding punk-rocksters. They should be arrested and fined or jailed for a short time. And the Church perhaps should increase the security in the place.

They made a commotion but they did no damage to the property nor attempted to. They are persecuted so severely because they dared to criticize the Tzar Vladimir Putin.

Lets say I do this very same thing in some Baptist Church. How much jail time would I get for such act? I am not sure in what democracy you think you live in? America has more prisoners than Communist China!!!

[Zelhar]

Lets say I do this very same thing in some Baptist Church. How much jail time would I get for such act? I am not sure in what democracy you think you live in? America has more prisoners than Communist China!!!

I live in Israel to start with. And I think we have a system of government that ensures the same ruling class holds power. But we still have more liberty then the people in Russia. And people in America enjoy even more liberty then what we have in Israel. Russia for all intense and purposes is a dictatorship, it also have a very corrupt legal system which is controlled by the government.

[TruthSpreader]

This is terrible. Can you imagine if someone in this country did the same to Obama?

[Rubystars]

I agree that what they did was inappropriate as far as being vulgar. However I think seven years is too harsh.

[serbian army]

I agree that what they did was inappropriate as far as being vulgar. However I think seven years is too harsh.

I changed my mind and I must agree with you. I let anger to overpower me but after thinking about I say they should get a shorter sentence.

[Rubystars]

I changed my mind and I must agree with you. I let anger to overpower me but after thinking about I say they should get a shorter sentence.

I think Russia's right to be strong against open Satanism and open vulgar acts but I think they're wrong to suppress free speech with lengthy prison sentences, especially if the women have children to care for. I think fines would be more appropriate.

[serbian army]

I think Russia's right to be strong against open Satanism and open vulgar acts but I think they're wrong to suppress free speech with lengthy prison sentences, especially if the women have children to care for. I think fines would be more appropriate.

I see this as open attack on Orthodox Church and its believers. They already performed anti-Putin concerts before and were not arrested. However, in any society they are limits to what you can do. There must be some rule of law. You see soccer hooligans get prison sentence for riots so why feel sorry for prison time they got for hooliganism and discrimination against religious Christians?
If they wanted to protest they could register their meeting but you will not call for another genocide against Orthodox Russians and that is where they crossed the red line.
Their lives are destroyed because they will be made example for other crazy satanists who plan such attacks. It is too bad they took such route but we all make decision in our lives. 

[JTFenthusiast2]

I see this as open attack on Orthodox Church and its believers. They already performed anti-Putin concerts before and were not arrested. However, in any society they are limits to what you can do. There must be some rule of law. You see soccer hooligans get prison sentence for riots so why feel sorry for prison time they got for hooliganism and discrimination against religious Christians?
If they wanted to protest they could register their meeting but you will not call for another genocide against Orthodox Russians and that is where they crossed the red line.
Their lives are destroyed because they will be made example for other crazy satanists who plan such attacks. It is too bad they took such route but we all make decision in our lives.

7 years is beyond the pale of acceptable as is holding them illegally without giving them legal recourse.  The days of the Gulag should be over.