A Russian
court has confirmed jail sentences against two members of the punk band Pussy
Riot. A third had her sentence suspended. Observers say the trial confirms the
downward spiral of Russian human rights.
One of the
members of the punk band Pussy Riot has been unexpectedly released on appeal,
after a Moscow court converted a two-year jail term against Yekaterina
Samutsevich into a suspended sentence on Wednesday (10.10.2012).
The judges
said Samutsevich had been thrown out of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior
before she was able to take part in the activities over which she was charged.
The court confirmed the two-year sentences imposed on the other two members of
the band, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina.
 |
| The band's punk prayer upset many Christians |
The three
women took part in a so-called "punk prayer" in the cathedral in
February to protest against Vladimir Putin, who was then standing for
president, and against the links between state and church in Russia.
In August
they were sentenced to two years in a labor camp for inciting religious hatred.
A reaction
to public pressure?
Lev
Ponomaryov, head of the Russian organization For Human Rights, said the way the
court proceedings had gone was "detestable." Public opposition to the
imprisonment had been strong, and even the Orthodox Church had called for
milder sentences.
"The
authorities only want to show they are responding to the public by letting one
of the girls go free," he said.
He pointed
out that, from the start, there had been good legal justification for not
including Samutsevich in the original trial, "but Samutsevich originally
showed solidarity with the other two. That's what she wanted." Perhaps, he
added, she'd changed her mind under the influence of relatives, friends or the
authorities.
Kremlin
behind political verdicts
 |
| Samutsevich, center, refrained from attacking Putin in court |
The human
rights activist Soja Svetova, who visited the band members repeatedly in
prison, described the latest judgment as "very strange." The court
said Samutsevich's lawyer was able to show that she was not involved in the
protest. But it had been made clear in the earlier hearings that she had not
even managed to touch a guitar in the cathedral.
Svetova
noted that the other two members of the band had made virulent anti-Putin
speeches in court during the appeal trial, while Samutsevich had kept quiet.
"Perhaps
that played a role in her getting a suspended sentence," she said - in
political cases, it not the court that decides, but the Russian state.
Keep
fighting for release
In Germany,
the Green party's spokesperson on Eastern Europe, Marieluise Beck, and its
spokesperson on human rights, Volker Beck, both welcomed the release of
Samutsevich but described the judgment against the other two as "all the
more brutal."
Russian
justice had shown itself once more to be an accessory to the Kremlin, they
said. Only a few days ago, President Putin had justified the tough line against
the band.
"Now a
higher court has confirmed a verdict against Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda
Tolokonnikova which offends the principles of human rights," they said.
"Young women who are the mothers of small children will now be imprisoned
for two years; the fight for their release must continue."
'Dare to
take a clear look at Putin's Russia'
 |
| Russia has made it harder for people to show their disapproval |
The two
also noted that the latest judgment confirmed how Russia was moving away from
the legal standards to which it is committed as a member of the Council of
Europe.
"The
tightening of the law on assembly, the defamation of political NGOs which have
to describe themselves as 'foreign agents' if they accept support from abroad
and the increasing control of the Internet are only the latest steps in this
downward spiral," they said.
They saw
the need for a new German and European policy towards Russia.
"In
its current state and with its current government, the country is no longer a
strategic partner," they added. They called on the German government
"to meet the challenge and dare to take a clear look at Putin's
Russia."
 |
| Freed feminist punk group Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich, left, leaves a court in Moscow, on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012. A Moscow appeals court on Wednesday unexpectedly freed Yekaterina Samutsevich of the jailed Pussy Riot group, but upheld the two-year prison sentence for the two others jailed for an irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin. (AP Photo) |
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