Romania's top court reinstates president

Deutsche Welle, 21 August 2012

Romania's top court on Tuesday declared that the impeachment vote of president Traian Basescu was invalid. The move allowed for Basescu to be reinstated.

Basescu, who was impeached in a July 29 referendum, has been locked in a bitter political battle with rival Victor Ponta, currently serving as prime minister. The power struggle has been interpreted by some outside analysts as a test of Romania's democracy two decades after the violent overthrow of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

According to news agency Mediafax, the judges' decision was adopted with a majority vote of six to three, a margin Ponta had previously stated was the bare minimum for him to accept the court's decision.

"I took note of the court decision and as previously announced, we will obey the decision," said Crin Antonescu, a co-leader of Ponta's leftist Social Liberal Union (USL). Antonescu had been serving as acting president in Basescu's absence.

Basescu, a former oil tanker captain and president of Romania since 2004, had previously accused Ponta of attempting to stage a coup and take control of independent institutions. The political battle has sent Romania's currency, the leu, to record lows, hurting investor confidence abroad.

Basescu's impeachment, originally launched by Ponta, required a 50 percent turnout to be binding. However, only 46 percent of the eligible electorate took part - leading to the need for the constitutional court to rule on the vote's validity.

"We stated that the referendum quorum condition was not met," chief judge Augustin Zegrean told reporters.

A decision by the court was originally due August 2, but was delayed due to the highly charged nature of the decision.

Power struggle 

Basescu was also temporarily
suspended in 2007

The conservative Basescu had become unpopular to some Romanians due to wage cuts and tax hikes in 2009 and 2011 brokered under two financing deals with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

With a population of around 19.5 million, Romania is the second-poorest member of the European Union. In the first quarter of 2012, the country dipped into a recession as a result of the political turmoil.

"Basescu's political survival would suggest that tension with Prime Minister Victor Ponta will continue, with the potential for a renewed escalation later on in the year," said Otilia Simkova, an analyst with the Eurasia group, referencing parliamentary elections to be held in November. "Continuing political tension and forthcoming elections are not conducive to coherent policymaking."

Outside groups have decried the power struggle as hurting Romania's democracy. Previously, the European Union had accused Ponta of undermining the rule of law and intimidating judges in a country that has long been criticized for political corruption and a weak justice system.

Basescu was also temporarily suspended from the presidency in 2007. A national referendum allowed for him to remain in office.

bm/mz (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Based in Greece, Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to built Africa to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) 

Pussy Riot protesters arrested in Marseille

French police detain Pussy Riot protesters for wearing balaclavas amid crackdown on face-coverings

guardian.co.uk, Angelique Chrisafis in Paris, Sunday 19 August 2012

Pussy Riot members in their trademark colourful balaclavas. Protesters
 in similar face-coverings have been arrested at a rally in Marseille.
Photograph: AP

Several people protesting peacefully in Marseille against the trial of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot were detained by police for wearing balaclavas, under France's controversial law that bans Muslim niqabs and all face-coverings from public places.

About 30 demonstrators gathered outside the Russian consulate in the southern French city on Friday to protest against the trial of members of the feminist group famous for wearing bright dresses and colourful balaclavas.

But police swooped on about seven wearing multicoloured face-masks in solidarity with the band, reported La Provence. Asked why the police had stopped the demonstrators who had been standing peacefully behind a banner about the power of poetry, a senior officer told the newspaper: "They are wearing balaclavas in a public space. It's illegal." He said the demonstrators would be questioned and a report written.

In April 2011, Nicolas Sarkozy's government introduced a law banning women from wearingthe niqab, or full face-veil, in public places. To circumvent accusations that the law singled out Muslims, the bill was officially called the law against covering one's face in public places.

Special exemptions were created for motorcycle helmets or sports equipment such as fencing masks. There are also exemptions for people appearing in parades, celebrations or places of worship.

The Marseille protesters – including poets, a book editor, and a former culture official – who had removed their masks at police request, were put in a riot van and driven to the nearest police station amid cries of "Absurd!" and "Ridiculous!". They were released that afternoon. Under the law, the case can be referred to a local judge who can hand down a €150 fine, a citizenship course or both.

"We came here to defend freedom of expression in Russia and we find ourselves stopped by French police," one pensioner at the rally told the paper.

When three members of Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in prison for hooliganism on Friday, France said the sentence was "disproportionate".

Related Article:

Pussy Riot trial tests Russia's Orthodox Church

Kraft pledges further purchases of tax dodger data

Deutsche Welle, 19 August 2012

The state premier in Germany's most populous region, SPD figurehead Hannelore Kraft, has told a major newspaper her government will continue buying black market data on German tax dodgers who use Swiss banks.

The state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Hannelore Kraft, told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper that her government would continue pursuing suspected tax cheats, despite opposition from the federal government and individual parliamentarians in the region.

"Purchasing such data is legal. That has been decided by the highest legal authorities. We will therefore continue buying such data," Kraft said.

Kraft's full interview with Bild was set to be published in the Monday edition of the paper, with excerpts released ahead of time on Sunday. 

Kraft has been fielding many questions
of late, not just on tax evasion

Kraft's Social Democrats (SPD) govern NRW in coalition with the Greens, two parties that are in opposition on the federal level. They have purchased several CDs containing information on suspected tax evaders, usually sold by rogue employees or former employees of Swiss banks. The issue came to a head in 2010 when authorities raided several German branches of the Credit Suisse bank after purchasing such data.

Switzerland views the purchases as a violation of its banking privacy laws.

Bild also quoted Kraft as saying that the latest data purchase indicated that Swiss banks were advising their clients on how to ship their money to Asia before a bilateral tax deal between Germany and Switzerland comes into force. This would support previous media reports on the subject in Germany.

When governments collide

Chancellor Angela Merkel's federal coalition has brokered a tax deal with Switzerland that is due to come into force at the beginning of 2013. Under the deal, which may not get through the upper house of parliament due to the opposition's reservations, Germans parking their assets in Swiss banks would start paying 26.4 percent tax on these holdings plus a smaller, one-off charge on previous deposits.

"We are not against a tax deal in principle. We are against this tax deal," Kraft told Bild. "It's a fundamental question of equality. If this deal comes into force, German tax cheats would remain anonymous, pay less than honest taxpayers and get their unreported income laundered."

There is no precise data on the amount of money stashed away in Swiss banks by German residents, but some media reports have estimated the figure at 180 billion euros, around five percent of Germany's gross domestic product.

Four politicians from the fledgling pro-transparency Pirate Party on Friday filed a lawsuit against the state's finance minister, alleging that the purchase of the CDs violates Germany's data protection laws.

Out of the chancellor picture?

Kraft also told the paper that she would not seek the Social Democrat nomination for chancellor in the 2013 general elections, "because I promised before the [state] elections that I would remain state premier of NRW." 

Kraft's election success was
Norbert Röttgen's demise

Kraft won reelection in May, in a vote more characterized by the implosion of Merkel's Christian Democrats than by the success of the SPD and the Greens. The vote led to the resignation of regional Christian Democrat leader Norbert Röttgen, who also lost his spot in Merkel's cabinet as federal environment minister within a matter of days.

The SPD has said that it will not announce its 2013 rival to Merkel, who does plan to stand again, until the beginning of the election year. The responsibility lies with party leader Sigmar Gabriel.

"Sigmar Gabriel will make a suggestion at the right moment. I really cannot understand all this excitement over the 'chancellor question' at this point in time," Kraft said.

Gabriel, Kraft, former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück and the defeated 2009 candidate, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, are currently considered the front-runners for the nomination.

msh/jlw (AFP, dpa)

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Madonna sued over gay rights stance by Russian campaigners

Anti-gay activists say criticism of law banning 'homosexual propaganda' may lead to Russia being unable to defend borders

guardian.co.uk, Reuters, 17 August 2012

Madonna condemned a law imposing fines for spreading 'homosexual
 propaganda' at a St Petersburg show. Photograph: Shamukov Ruslan
/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

A group of Russian anti-gay activists are suing American pop star Madonna for $10m, saying she had insulted their feelings when she spoke out for gay rights at a concert in St Petersburg last week.

Performing in black lingerie with the words "No Fear" scrawled on her back, Madonna attacked a city law adopted in March that imposes fines for spreading homosexual "propaganda". She had earlier called the law a "ridiculous atrocity".

Homosexuality, punished with jail terms in the Soviet Union, was decriminalised in Russia in 1993, but much of the gay community remains underground as prejudice runs deep.

"She had been warned with words that she should behave in line with the law and she ignored it. So we will speak in the language of money," said Darya Dedova, one of the 10 activists who filed the lawsuit in a St Petersburg court.

"Of course, it is difficult to measure moral damages and suffering but maybe people who earn money regardless of moral rules will better understand this."

Dedova added that if they won the case, the money would be sent to orphanages.

Alexei Kolotkov, another of the activists who filed the suit, said: "Maybe someone does not see the link but after Madonna's concert maybe some boy becomes gay, some girl becomes lesbian, fewer children are born as a result and this big country cannot defend its borders - for me it causes moral suffering."

The St Petersburg propaganda law is the model for a bill that has been submitted to the national parliament but has not yet faced a vote. Critics say they fear it could be used to clamp down on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, for example by barring gay rights demonstrations.

In Moscow, gay rights suffered a blow when an appeal court upheld a lower court's ruling that found city authorities had acted legally when they rejected applications from activists to hold a gay pride parade, banning one from taking place in the city every year for the next 100 years.

Attempts to hold gay rights rallies in the Russian capital have often ended in arrests and clashes with anti-gay activists.

In May, dozens of people were detained in Moscow after Russian Orthodox activists broke up two gay rights marches, throwing water and shouting prayers.

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Britain visited by one UFO a month but MoD rules they pose no threat

The Ministry of Defence will no longer investigate UFO sightings after ruling there is “no evidence” they pose a threat to the UK despite a senior aviation official admitting the country is visited by one unidentified flying object a month.

The Telegraph, by Richard Gray, 19 Aug 2012

Jane Randall from Woking, Surrey, captured a strange looking object in the
 skies above Silbury Hill in Wiltshire in the latest sighting Photo: Jane Randall

It is official at last: Britain is not at risk from unidentified flying objects.

Those who have long feared an invasion from Mars or further afield can relax – at least, that is, if they believe the Ministry of Defence.

An end has been ordered to all official investigations of Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs, after the ministry ruled they do not pose a threat to the nation’s security.

It comes as the head of UK Air Traffic Control admitted the country is visited by around one unidentified flying object a month.

Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme about the existence of UFOs, Mr Deakin confirmed they were still being seen by his staff.

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He said: "Occasionally there are objects identified that do not conform to normal traffic patterns. It does not occupy a huge amount of my time. There are approximately one a month."

Yet despite this, the MoD insists it will no longer investigate UFO sightings.

The ruling came after the careful collation over the years of reports of strange lights in the skies, odd noises and apparent close encounters.

The move to end all investigation was disclosed after a dedicated hotline for UFO sightings was discontinued for cost grounds, and the “UFO desk”, which cost £44,000 a year was also removed.

Now officials say that any UFO investigation would divert valuable resources and instead a sophisticated network of radar infrastructure and anti-ballistic missile systems to monitor British airspace will spot any genuine threat.

An MoD spokesman said: “In over fifty years no UFO report revealed any evidence of a potential threat to the United Kingdom.

“The MoD had no specific capability for identifying the nature of such sightings and there would be no benefit in such an investigation. Furthermore, responding to reported UFO sightings diverted MOD resources from tasks that were more relevant to defence.”

The abandonment of the UFO hotline and dedicated desk officer in 2009 had already caused concern among those who believe in the phenomena.

Now the decision to abandon investigations entirely has frustrated some members of the public convinced they have glimpsed the extraterrestrial – and those who are simply unsure of what they have seen.

Jane Randall, a housewife from Woking, Surrey, captured a strange looking object in the skies above Silbury Hill in Wiltshire when she took a photograph using her mobile phone while taking part in a field trip to learn about the archaeology in the area.

She said: “I didn’t see anything at the time, nor did the ten people I was with, but when I looked back over the photos there were two pictures a second apart with this strange conical shape hovering behind the hill.

“The pictures I took either side of this didn’t have any mark on them so I don’t think it could have been dust on the lens.

“I’m just an ordinary person, but thought I should report it to someone so they could take a look. When I phoned the police, they said it was not a police matter and I spoke to someone at the RAF who said they did not investigate UFOs any more.”

Nick Pope, who ran the MoD’s UFO desk from 1991 to 1994 and now researches UFO sightings privately, said: “One of the problems was that an increasing number of the reports the MoD was getting were low quality.

“When someone has a photograph though, that should be considered to be a different situation. The MoD has the personnel and equipment to very quickly analyse an image to tell whether it has been altered and identify what an object might be.

“A lot of ordinary members of the public feel it is there duty to report anything out of the ordinary.

"I get a lot of people contacting me now about sightings and it is frustrating that there is no where official that they can report them – it has become a black hole.”

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Italy's tax hunters target super-rich and their yachts off the Sardinian coast

Austerity and ecology make life a misery for pleasure-seekers as coastguards use helicopters to enforce the law

The Guardian, The Observer, Tom Kington in Rome, Sunday 19 August 2012

Yachts at anchor in the harbour at Poltu Quatu in Sardinia’s Olbia Tempio
province, on the Esmerald Coast. Photograph: Hemis /Alamy

There used to be a time when Italy's super-rich gravitated to the smartest enclaves of Sardinia for a summer of relaxation and luxury. Not any more. In an increasingly austerity-conscious country, the yacht-owning classes are coming under increasing and unwelcome scrutiny, some of which would not look out of place in a scene from the film Apocalypse Now.

"We first spotted the targets with the helicopter's radar and closed in to identify about 50 boats off the two islands," said Italian coastguard captain Pietro Mele, describing a recent raid on yachts suspected of straying too close to the coast. Swooping in, the helicopter crew barked orders to the plush pleasure craft through a loudspeaker, telling them to move on from the protected Sardinian islands of Soffi and Mortorio, where anchoring is strictly forbidden.

It was hardly an act of war, but the tough measures have been enough to spark a furious reaction from royalty, actors and entrepreneurs who keep their yachts on the nearby Costa Smeralda and are now threatening to move on to Corsica or France's Côte d'Azur.

"These helicopter raids are a huge problem and many yachts won't be back to Sardinia any time soon," said Roberto Azzi, who runs a rental agency called Emerald Yachts.

The helicopter raids top a terrible summer for Italy's upmarket sailors, who have suffered regular visits from tax inspectors instituting prime minister Mario Monti's crackdown on tax avoidance. "We are 30% down this season," complained Azzi.

The two islands have long been favourite spots for boats heading out from the swish port of Porto Rotondo, which is popular with rich Italians, Russian magnates and Arab sheikhs. Among those up in arms about being turfed out were German and Italian princes, as well as former Formu la 1 racing driver Alessandro Nannini. "Yachtsmen pass the word around and get out before the checks start," he told Corriere della Sera. "But that's got to stop. Something has to change, or I am not going back."

Azzi admitted that the islands have long been officially out of bounds, but the boats had flocked there anyway. "And now, with the crisis on, they go and send in a helicopter? The rules are arbitrary and there are 2,000 people employed in the business here who stand to lose their jobs if the yachts flee.

"The anchoring damages the sea grass, but there is a group who ignore the ban," responded a spokesman for the Maddalena archipelago national park, which manages the islands.

"They know the rules, but we are in Italy; they are on holiday," said Mele, who broadcast the message, "You are in a forbidden area, please move on," from the coastguard helicopter to the sunbathing tycoons. "Unfortunately some thought we would go away and did not move, so we sent a patrol vessel in as well," he said.

The Sardinian coastguard have a reputation for fearing no one. Last summer Steven Spielberg was fined for sailing too close to a Sardinian beach with his engines on.

Azzi said that the helicopter raid was not the only way Italian law enforcers were managing to upset the rich this summer. "Since the sinking of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, there has been a ban on cruise ships sailing too close to protected areas," he said.

The problem, he added, is that police have been confusing mega-yachts with cruise ships and harassing billionaires as they lie at anchor in a beauty spot: "They ordered Roman Abramovich's yacht to retreat from the Costa Smeralda and return to Porto Fino."

As the mega-yachts sailed by the wealthy Russians fall foul of the law, the smaller motorboats run by Italians are proving a magnet for tax police inspectors who are sent out by the Monti government to crack down on tax dodgers and raise crucial funds for Italy's battered balance sheet. "We are in a state of war" against tax evasion, Monti warned on Friday.

With owners of large motor boats who declare suspiciously low incomes coming under special scrutiny, a growing number are claiming that their boats have sunk and are putting in insurance claims, said Ugo Vittori, the head of investigative agency Eagle Keeper.

"Sinkings need to happen in deep water, for example off the Puglian coast and near the Tuscan Formiche islands," he said. "The owners say it was a miracle they survived and we send down a robot sub to find the boat, but it often turns out they have been sold in Miami or Martinique," he added.

After tax inspectors swept through the Alpine resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo this winter, ostenstatious displays of wealth have fallen out of fashion this summer and people are rediscovering mountain walking, wrote Italian daily La Stampa.

Motor racing tycoon Flavio Briatore has even threatened to close down Billionaire, his Costa Smeralda nightclub frequented by Naomi Campbell and Silvio Berlusconi, claiming: "Italy is now a country where, if you own a yacht and tie up in port, you are either a bandit or a thief."

Crime reportedly flourishes in Russian army

Deutsche Welle, 18 August 2012

Murder, drug trafficking and other crimes are reportedly on the rise within the Russian army. Some human rights advocates say ending the draft and instituting a professional army would help bring about humane conditions.

A recent report by Russian military prosecutor Sergei Fridinski paints a dismal picture of conditions within the Russian army. He said in the first half of this year, murders rose by more than half and drug trafficking increased 25 percent compared to the first six months of 2011. The prosecutor also reported twice as many bribes within the Russian army during the same period of time.

Culture of blackmail 

Mothers of soldiers killed in the
 Russian army demonstrate outside
parliament

Fridinski's numbers come as no surprise to Ella Polyakova, chairwoman of the St. Petersburg chapter of the Russian human rights organization Mothers of Soldiers. The statistics correspond to what she expected.

"We've been complaining that the conditions in the army are a crime against humanity," Polyakova told DW.

Mothers of Soldiers raises awareness about often unbearable conditions in the military. With 12 months of compulsory military service still engrained in Russian law, citizens try to circumvent the draft as much as possible, sometimes using bribes.

Estimates hold that only one-third of people drafted in the same year are actually performing their military service.

Polyakova said corruption and violence are flourishing within the army, with soldiers and their families being blackmailed for bank cards and money. She added that the extortion is often accompanied by torture and beatings.

Sergei Krivenko, director of Russian human rights organization Citizens. Army. Justice, said motives for violence in the army have changed.

"Before, the violence served as a way of establishing order in the ranks," he said. He went on to say that today, violence is for personal economic gain.

Ella Polyakova, the chairperson
 of the St. Petersburg chapter of "Mothers
 of Soldiers" believes that the Russian army
must make reforms to protect soldiers.
The level of violence and corruption has
 also made it useless to Russian society.

Free labor

Polyakova said many in the military primarily view young troops as free labor. Conscripts account for one third of the roughly 1 million members of Russia's armed forces.

"For example, officers might arrange for a pig farm within their military unit," Polyakova said. "And then the soldiers are forced to raise and later slaughter the pigs."

She said there is also drug trafficking with the barracks.

"If a soldier doesn't go along with it and a crime is supposed to be covered up, then his life is in danger," she said.

Krivenko knows about the drug trafficking, too. He attributed increasing drug use among both volunteers and conscripts to crime, corruption and a complete lack of discipline in the army.

Calls for reform

Krivenko is convinced that only the creation of a professional army, where all soldiers enlist voluntarily, can improve the situation.

"A career soldier has a completely different legal status," he said. "He's a real soldier, he has rights and duties. He goes to the army as if he were going to work."

Polyakova agrees. She does not believe Russia can actually use the army in its current state.

"We must impose a moratorium on this army," she said. "If society is convinced that it actually needs an army, then one will have to be created on a completely new foundation."

Opinion: Pussy Riot verdict an outrage

Deutsche Welle, 17 August 2012

Russia has used the trial against three young women to set a precedent - despite global outcry. The verdict is nothing short of a scandal that puts a strain on German-Russian relations, says Bernd Johann. 

Bernd Johann: Pussy Riot verdict
is nothing short of a scandal

Whoever thought the Russian state was able to demonstrate any form of lenience or clemency towards its opponents has been proven seriously wrong. The verdict against the three women of the punk band "Pussy Riot" is not just a harsh punishment that will affect the accused artists personally.

This trial has been used to set a precedent: Anyone in Russia who chooses to publicly speak out against the authoritarian Putin system, especially if it involves breaching the law, is going to feel the full force of the establishment.

There's no question about it. The public act of the punk activists at the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior in February was a scandal. Certainly it had the potential for hurting people's religious beliefs. And certainly - according to German legal standards, too - such action within a church could be prosecuted on the basis of going against the freedom of practicing religion. Within that, the freedom of expression and the freedom of religion each put limitations on the other.

Show trial in Moscow

But in a case like this, genuine rule of law commands the weighing of both rights against each other. This hasn't happened in Moscow. For the judge it was enough to simply state that "this wasn't art, but hooliganism stemming from religious hatred." The trial against the three women wasn't anything but a show trial. They were in pre-trial custody for almost half a year. Shortly after their public protest, they were ruthlessly separated from their families and little children.

All this despite the fact that the protest happened without any violence. No one was actually hurt. There was no doubt about what had happened, and the women didn't deny the charges. And that means it would have indeed been possible for the court to show lenience and mark what had happened off as bad taste nonsense of some young people.

Instead, the women were treated like dangerous criminals. They had to endure the trial handcuffed and locked up in a glass cage. The court gave little room for the defense to make its case. The accused, too, were barely able to tell their side of the story - and when they could, they focused on criticizing the Putin government as a repressive regime. There was no sign of religious hatred - it was clearly a political protest.

Politicians and members of the clergy as prosecutors

As things went, it turned out to be a bizarre trial - in the eyes of the world and those of the Russian public. Three young women in the role of David, who - in the end - couldn't do anything but lose against Goliath in the form of Putin's system. Kremlin supporting politicians and representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church surpassed each other in demanding draconian punishments - as if they themselves were the prosecutors in this trial.

Even Putin himself voiced his opinion in this matter. Without any political reticence he expressed the expectations he had of the trial, and by doing so further encouraged doubts about the independence of the court.

Dark omen for Putin's new term

The verdict becomes a dark omen for Putin's third term in office - a technocrat of power, who only managed to reemerge as Russia's leader by tricking the constitution itself. His first 100 days in office have clearly showed that there will be no further political liberalization. During the past weeks, members of the opposition have been browbeaten - also by exploiting the legal system. The demonstration law has been drastically tightened, and NGOs have seen further curtailing of their work.

These developments, now including the verdict against the all-female punk band, are going to put a strain on German-Russian relations. Rarely has there been such a wave of protest against a trial in Russia - throughout all political ranks and all parts of society. In bilateral discussions, the German side increasingly asks the question whether a dialogue with Russia is at all possible when it comes to civil rights and society.

After the verdict against Pussy Riot, politicians in Berlin could find themselves forced to reevaluate the traditionally close and positive relations Germany has with Russia.

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Gay parades banned in Moscow for 100 years

Gay parades banned in Moscow for 100 years

BBC News, 17 August 2012

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Nikolay Alexeyev has been campaigning
 for years for the right to stage gay
parades in Russia

Moscow's top court has upheld a ban on gay pride marches in the Russian capital for the next 100 years.

Earlier Russia's best-known gay rights campaigner, Nikolay Alexeyev, had gone to court hoping to overturn the city council's ban on gay parades.

He had asked for the right to stage such parades for the next 100 years.

He also opposes St Petersburg's ban on spreading "homosexual propaganda". The European Court of Human Rights has told Russia to pay him damages.

On Friday he said he would go back to the European Court in Strasbourg to push for a recognition that Moscow's ban on gay pride marches - past, present and future - was unjust.

The Moscow city government argues that the gay parade would risk causing public disorder and that most Muscovites do not support such an event.

In September, the Council of Europe - the main human rights watchdog in Europe - will examine Russia's response to a previous European Court ruling on the gay rights issue, Russian media report.

In October 2010 the court said Russia had discriminated against Mr Alexeyev on grounds of sexual orientation. It had considered Moscow's ban on gay parades covering the period 2006-2008.

Pussy Riot trial tests Russia's Orthodox Church

Deutsche Welle, 16 August 2012

First prison, then compassion seems to be the Russian Orthodox Church's stance on Pussy Riot. But observers say that this might lead to many Russians turning their back on the church.

Russian Patriarch Kyrill presented his latest book in March in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. One of the key issues he focused on was the virtue of compassion. It's compassion for the members of punk band Pussy Riot that Russian human rights activists, artists, writers, musicians as well as Western celebrities like Sting, Madonna or Germany's Nina Hagen are now calling for. 

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina
 Samutsevich and Maria Alekhina face
prison time

The verdict for Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich is expected to be announced Friday (17.08.2012). The prosecution accuses the three women, who have been held in custody for half a year, of hooliganism and incitement of religious hatred.

In February, the band had staged a "protest prayer" in Moscow's biggest church, the Cathedral of Christ the Savoir, just days ahead of the presidential elections that swept Vladimir Putin back into the president's office.

An Internet video shows a group of women in short dresses and wearing colorful balaclavas, dancing in front of the altar and shaking their fists. The video is accompanied by a punk prayer, a song calling on the Virgin Mary to chase Putin away.

Waning public support for harsh sentence  

Patriarch Kyrill described the
performance as "blasphemy"

The accused have described their performance as a political act. Ahead of the presidential poll, the Russian Orthodox Church had called upon people to vote for Putin. That's why, Pussy Riot members said, they wanted to protest against the close connection between the church and the Kremlin.

Over the course of the trial, a dwindling number of Russians expressed support for a harsh sentence for the three young women. Opinion polls in April had suggested that some 47 percent of the population were in support of a tough verdict, in June that number fell to 33 percent.

Many of the Orthodox believers, however, have insisted on a severe sentence, Natalia Sorkaja, from the pollsters Lewada which conducted the study, told DW. She said most Russians were well informed about the Pussy Riot trial and that the media was covering the case extensively.

Church demands punishment  

Pussy Riot staged their political protest
in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

Since the trial began, Russia's Orthodox Church has been calling for a severe sentence. It does not seem prepared to easily forgive the three young women. Kyrill spoke of "blasphemy" and "satanic mockery."

"I know how much the soul of our people has been hurt," he said, adding that it was not a case the church could just brush over.

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, in charge of matters of the relation between church and people at the Moscow patriarchy, agreed with Kyrill. He recently said it was only after the verdict had been pronounced, that one could consider compassion.

More to turn away from the church?

"The church wants to see a harsh punishment for Pussy Riot because they believe it will be a warning for other young people who want to protest against the church with similar political actions," Nikolay Mitrokhin, a Russia specialist at Bremen University, told DW. But he said he still is surprised by the strict position taken up by religious leaders.

"In the past, the church tried find a balance between the interests of the different groups in society. It tried to not get into an argument with the intelligentsia and the Moscow or Saint Petersburg middle class. But now it seems, the church is breaking those ties," he said, adding that as a result even more of the young urban class will turn away from the church.

"With this stance, the church will make even more people of those who reflect critically, turn away from it," Natalia Sorkaja agreed. She said she believes about 5 percent to 7 percent of Orthodox believers could turn their back on the church because they feel more connected to liberal and democratic values.

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Based in Greece, Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.)

"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator, Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)

“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience?