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It wasn’t a trial but a farce. Following a courtroom saga that made a mockery of Russia’s judicial system and aroused global condemnation, the three female members of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot have been sentenced to two years in jail for the crime of protesting the government of President Vladimir Putin.
To be sure, their official transgression is “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.” But there can be no doubt that this charge is little more than political cover for what is essentially an act of political retribution by the Putin government. In February, the band staged an anti-government guerrilla protest in Moscow’s main cathedral when they donned colorful balaclava masks and proceeded to belt out a “punk prayer,” which they titled “Holy Mother, Chase Putin Away!” Government prosecutors later called the song blasphemous, but it’s clear from the lyrics that the target is not religion or even the Russian Orthodox Church per se, but rather its subservience to Putin. (“The head of the KBG is their patron saint.”) The entire performance lasted less than a minute.
The band members’ ordeal is set to last far longer. In March, they were detained and jailed without so much as a hearing. For the past few weeks, they have been forced to watch on as the government staged what might be generously called a kangaroo court. While the band members’ defense attorneys were prohibited from calling witnesses to testify on their behalf, the prosecution was allowed to parade dozens of “victims” of the band’s performance, each more ludicrous than the last.
One witness testified that the women of Pussy Riot hated Russian Orthodoxy, as evidence for which she cited their use of curse words. Among the curse words she found offensive was “feminist.” Yet another alleged victim insisted that the band members were guilty of “imitating Satanic movement with their hands.” In a spectacle marked by absurdity, arguably the most surreal moment came when the prosecution called an expert witness whose sole qualification was having seen a YouTube video of Pussy Riot’s performance and read an interview with the band. It was a crude satire of justice, laughable if not for the fact of its outrageous outcome.
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