Russian prosecutor seeks jail for Pussy Riot protest

:::Russian prosecutor seeks jail for Pussy
Riot protest
A state prosecutor on Tuesday demanded
a three-year jail term for three women
from the punk band Pussy Riot, saying
they had abused God when they stormed
the altar of a Moscow cathedral and sang
a “protest prayer” against the Russian
Orthodox Church’s close links to Vladimir
Putin.
The case, in which the three are charged with
hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, has
outraged many Russian Orthodox believers.
But it has also caused an international outcry
and focused attention on a crackdown on
dissent since Putin returned to the presidency
for a six-year term on May 7.
“The actions of the accomplices clearly show
religious hatred and enmity,” federal prosecutor
Alexei Nikiforov said in closing arguments,
watched by the women’s lawyers, friends and
family in the tiny courtroom.
“There was real mockery and humiliation
directed at the people in the church,” he said.
The defendants looked pale and tired as they
sat silently in a glass and metal courtroom cage,
two of them scribbling notes. Their lawyer said
the demand for a prison sentence was
disproportionate and shameful.
Nikiforov did not press the court for the
maximum seven-year sentence. Putin said last
week that Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda
Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich,
29, had done “nothing good” but should not be
judged too harshly.
But the prosecutor ignored pleas by the
opposition and human rights groups not to seek
jail terms over the profanity-laced protest, in
which the trio, wearing balaclavas and short
dresses, burst into the Christ the Saviour
Cathedral and belted out a song urging the
Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin.
“Using swear words in a church is an abuse of
God,” Nikiforov said.
He dismissed the defendants’ argument that the
protest was not intended to offend believers and
was aimed at highlighting the church’s support
for Putin.
“The insult is not to Putin but to the social group
of Orthodox Christian believers,” he said.
“MIRACLE OF GOD”
Pussy Riot, an all-women group, formed last
October in protest against Putin’s domination of
Russia and his plan, now fulfilled, to return to
the Kremlin. He could also seek another six-year
term as president when his current stint ends in
2018.
The band members see themselves as part of a
protest movement that last winter organised the
biggest demonstrations since the former KGB
spy first rose to power in 2000, at times
attracting crowds in Moscow of 100,000.
“This is a nightmare. Blood is pouring from my
ears,” defence lawyer Nikolai Polozov said in a
message on a social network site after the
prosecutor’s demand for jail terms.
In a country where few believe in the
independence of the judiciary, the Kremlin could
hope to win support among some of its critics if
the final sentences are relatively lenient. But
this could offend church leaders.
It is not clear when sentence will be passed but
it could be anytime this week.
The trio’s protest also took aim at Patriarch
Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church,
and infuriated church leaders who have
described Putin’s 12-year rule as a “miracle of
God” and described the women as doing the
work of the devil.
The protest upset many Orthodox Christian
believers for whom the Christ the Saviour
Cathedral is a sacred place of worship and its
pulpit a place reserved exclusively for priests.
The case has provided Putin, 59, with a chance
to deepen his contacts with the Russian
Orthodox Church, which has enjoyed a surge in
support since the Soviet Union collapsed in
1991.
Opposition leaders say the trial is also part of a
wider crackdown intended to silence Putin’s
critics and which also includes tightening checks
on foreign-funded lobby groups, new controls on
the Internet and big fines for protesters.
The case has caused an outcry abroad and
international musicians including Madonna,
Sting and Red Hot Chili Peppers have appealed
for leniency.
“I hope they do not have to serve seven years in
jail. That would be a tragedy,” U.S. singer
Madonna, in Moscow to perform a concert, told
Reuters on Monday.