Vol. 76/No. 35      October 1, 2012

As a result of popular protests in Russia and beyond, political pressure is mounting on Moscow to release the three members of Pussy Riot—Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30—found guilty Aug. 17 of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and sentenced to two years in prison. They were arrested seconds into staging a protest inside the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow Feb. 21.

Demonstrators called for early elections. President Vladimir Putin’s March election victory and his party’s parliamentary victories last December were marked by widespread allegations of fraud.

According to the New York Times, participants comprised a wide spectrum of political currents, including a contingent from the Communist Party, which had kept its distance from previous actions.

“We are against bureaucrats owning a Lexus when that Lexus costs the same as a new house for a homeless family,” Aleksei Tyorkin, a school teacher and part-time construction worker marching with the Communist Party, told the Times.

Rightist nationalists marched, chanting “Moscow is a Russian city.”

Faced with mounting political pressure, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Sept. 12 that the three jailed members of Pussy Riot should be given a suspended sentence because the amount of time they’ve spent in jail is “entirely sufficient.”

In written answers to Britain’s Guardian, Samutsevich said that “the evil plan of our authorities, to jail us so as to break us and sour us, has already failed miserably.”

“The problem for Putin personally now is that a lot of people no longer see his strong hand and authority, but his fear and uncertainty in the face of the progressive citizens of Russia, who grow more and more numerous with every step like our verdict,” she wrote.

“What I can say for sure is that we still madly want changes in Russia—toward anti-authoritarian leftist ideas,” she said. “We, along with many citizens of our country, are burning even more with the desire to finally take from Putin his monopoly on power, since his image no longer seems so total and terrible.”

Last week other members of Pussy Riot released a new video in which they thank artists and others around the world who back their fight. The video features three other members of the band rappelling down a wall and setting fire to a portrait of Putin. “We’ve been fighting for the right to sing, to think, to criticize. To be musicians and artists, ready to do everything to change our country no matter the risks,” they exclaim. “The fight for freedom is an endless battle that is bigger than life.”

According to the Moscow Times, support rallies will take place in more than 100 cities around the world Oct. 1.  
 
 
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