Pussy Riot Convicted

[Larry]

cockroach sex?.

Is that what is written on that banner in the photo upthread?

[Larry]

When chess grand champion and Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov showed up Friday at the sentencing of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, he didn’t expect to spend the next five hours in the custody of the Moscow police, recovering from a severe beating.

Now, he says, after being punched in the genitals, thrown in a van and beaten by several police, Kasparov says the police have accused him of biting one of them—an allegation he denies. “They act like animals and they accuse me of biting them,” Kasparov told the Daily Beast in his first interview since being arrested. “Can you imagine what it means to bite someone when you are being beaten? There should be blood on my face. It is beyond any common sense.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/17/chess-champ-garry-kasparov-they-were-trying-to-break-my-leg.html

[leslied]

There are 3 satellite dishes on my roof.  We get about 30 Russian language channels.  There is a marked contrast in the way this case is viewed in the west and the way it is viewed in FSU.

In the west it is all about Putin suppressing freedom of speech and these women are held up as hero's.

On Russian TV there is genuine outrage at their behavior.  Putting on an act like that in front of the altar! 
They will be released next March unless they pull another stupid stunt in goal.  Excessive in western terms - maybe but not by Russian standards.

They were trying to get as much attention as possible and they succeeded.  Of course the opposition has jumped on the bandwagon but this is not a soviet era show trial.

I too saw the topless woman felling a cross in Kiev with a chainsaw.  I hope they catch her and lock her up for a long time.  That is inciting religious hatred - period.
 

[cufflinks]

When chess grand champion and Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov showed up Friday at the sentencing of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, he didn’t expect to spend the next five hours in the custody of the Moscow police, recovering from a severe beating.

Now, he says, after being punched in the genitals, thrown in a van and beaten by several police, Kasparov says the police have accused him of biting one of them—an allegation he denies. “They act like animals and they accuse me of biting them,” Kasparov told the Daily Beast in his first interview since being arrested. “Can you imagine what it means to bite someone when you are being beaten? There should be blood on my face. It is beyond any common sense.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/17/chess-champ-garry-kasparov-they-were-trying-to-break-my-leg.html

Not a good time to Piss Off Putin in Public in Moscow that's for sure - sometimes when you kick a bear it bites back (Bear = Symbol of United Russia)

[shakespear]

Is it just me or do some of you other guys think Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (the dark haired one, on the right) is good-looking? 

She's certainly the best looking of the three . . . . . . . .

[BC]

Is it just me or do some of you other guys think Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (the dark haired one, on the right) is good-looking? 

She's certainly the best looking of the three . . . . . . . .

'Power of the bush.. (even if shaven) is incredible.... a flash and the world is your stage.

[Larry]

'Power of the bush.. (even if shaven) is incredible.... a flash and the world is your stage.
 

Oh yes, very powerful.  Especially if shaven.

[Larry]

Not sure whether this belongs in this thread or the jokes thread, but since it's about Pussy Riot I'll put it here: [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Larry]

The police are not stopping with the three girls who were sentenced last week:

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian police are hunting for more members of the Pussy Riot punk rock band, a spokeswoman said, signaling further pressure on the group despite an international outcry over jail terms for three women who protested in a church against Vladimir Putin.

The Russian president's critics condemned the court proceeding that yielded the two-year prison sentences on Friday as part of a clampdown on a protest movement and reminiscent of show trials of dissidents in the Soviet era.
Police said on Monday they were searching for other members of the group over the February protest at Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral, but had not yet identified the suspects.

They did not say how many people they were looking for, nor whether they faced arrest and charges. Five members of the anonymous feminist punk group stormed the church altar in brightly colored balaclavas, mismatched dresses and wielding an electric guitar, but only three were arrested and tried. Although the search was launched before Friday's verdict, the determination of police to pursue other Pussy Riot members suggested the Kremlin would keep the heat on the band despite the furor over the punishment imposed on the three young women.

A lawyer for Pussy Riot, Mark Feigin, said he believed police knew the identity of the other two women and had video surveillance footage of them walking into the church. He said the search handed police a tool to put pressure on any of Pussy Riot's 10 plus members continuing its protest. "If you put some unidentified persons on the wanted list, then you can arrest whoever you want in a balaclava," he said.

In an interview last week, other members of Pussy Riot - their faces hidden behind colorful masks like those worn during the "punk prayer" - said the trial had only strengthened their resolve to stage new protests. On Friday, the band released a new song entitled "Putin is Lighting the Fires of Revolution."

... A police spokeswoman said other unidentified members of Pussy Riot were being sought under a criminal case that was now separate from that against the three performers who were tried.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/russian-police-pursuing-other-members-female-punk-rock-140134733.html

[shakespear]

More . . . . . . .

[Larry]

MOSCOW — Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has called for three members of the punk band Pussy Riot to be freed, saying further prison time would be "unproductive."

Medvedev's comments on Wednesday could signal the band members' imminent release as their case comes up for appeal on Oct. 1.

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/russia-and-former-soviet-union/medvedev-calls-for-pussy-riot-to-be-freed-312867.html

As I re-read my post I see that my title  could be misconstrued by those not following this case as suggesting there was a riot over... well, not going to go back and change it now.

[Larry]

Alas, it was not the lovely Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who, as the report below indicates, is headed for a penal colony:

MOSCOW –  One jailed member of the punk band Pussy Riot unexpectedly walked free from a Moscow courtroom, but the other two now head toward a harsh punishment for their irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin: a penal colony. The split ruling by the appeals court Wednesday added further controversy to a case that has been seized upon in the West as a symbol of Putin's intensifying crackdown on dissent.

All three women were convicted in August of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years in prison. They argued in court on Wednesday that their impromptu performance inside Moscow's main cathedral in February was political in nature and not an attack on religion.

The Moscow City Court ruled that Yekaterina Samutsevich's sentence should be suspended because she was thrown out of the cathedral by guards before she could remove her guitar from its case and thus did not take part in the performance. The two other defendants squealed with joy and hugged Samutsevich before she was led from the courtroom to be mobbed by friends and journalists waiting outside on the street.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10/10/moscow-frees-member-anti-putin-punk-band-2-remain-jailed/?intcmp=trending#ixzz28umXovcH

[mendeleyev]

Larry, hope you don't mind additional coverage from the Mendeleyev Journal:

So what is behind the release of one member of the rock group Pussy Riot while the other two remain behind bars?

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
(Pussy Riot's Yekaterina Samutsevich. Photo by Alexandra Astakhova.)

There are some simple facts in the appeals case and despite President Vladimir Putin's recent comments that he is satisfied with their sentencing, Yekaterina Samutsevich did have a defense somewhat different from the other two band members. When the news broke we had hoped that it was one of the young mothers who had been freed given the age of the small children. However it was Samutsevich, who had fired her attorney and hired prominent defense lawyer Irina Khrunova to mount a new defense.

Attorney Khrunova wasted no time in pointing out to the court that Samutsevich was not one of the band members dancing on the altar. Samutsevich was inside the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and was making her way to the altar area, but one of the first detained and therefore unable to take part in the band's "protest prayer" on the Cathedral altar. Khrunova used the prosecution's video evidence to prove that her client had already been escorted out of the Sanctuary area before the performance could begin.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Wg-lAQ4bq7M#!" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/Wg-lAQ4bq7M#!</a>

The scene was emotional as Samutsevich left her fellow band members behind to "face the music" and Pussy Riot's mothers of small children at home, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, still face two years in a penal colony on the conviction of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.


[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
Maria Alyoknina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova remained behind at the Khamovniki district court in Moscow.

As noted in a recent Policymic article, "...the Pussy Riot prosecution is designed to have a chilling effect on the Russian opposition movement, which has become emboldened following massive street protests over allegations of vote rigging in last December's parliamentary elections that skewed the results in favor of Putin's United Russia party. Rallies in Moscow brought more than 100,000 people out into the streets in the middle of the Russian winter.

The opposition has made extensive use of social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Russia's Vkontakte to organize and promote their anti-Putin agenda. As noted, sites like YouTube are what made Pussy Riot a national sensation. The internet is also the one portion of the Russian media space that remains stubbornly beyond Putin's control. The prospect of years, rather than days, in jail for acts of protest then is meant to make Russians think twice about speaking out against the government." (http://www.policymic.com/articles/12106/pussy-riot-vladimir-putin-turns-punk-rockers-into-political-martyrs)

[nicknick]

Alas, it was not the lovely Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who, as the report below indicates, is headed for a colony:

Perhaps one of the mods might wish to alter this.

(Edit: Thanks Nick! It has been corrected. Mendeleyev)

[Larry]

Larry, hope you don't mind additional coverage from the Mendeleyev Journal

Happy to hear it.

(Edited to reflect post above.)