More About Pussy Riot:
From FreePussyRiot.org
Pussy Riot is an anonymous Russian feminist performance art
group formed in October 2011. Through a series of peaceful performances
in highly visible places, the group has given voice to basic rights
under threat in Russia today, while expressing the values and principles
of gender equality, democracy and freedom of expression contained in
the Russian constitution and other international instruments, including
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the CEDAW Convention.
Detained members of the art group Pussy Riot:
Maria Alekhina, age 24. Poet and student at the Institute of Journalism and Creative Writing. Mother of a 5 year-old boy. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, age 23. Visual artist and 4th year Philosophy student. Mother of a 4 year-old girl. Ekaterina Samucevich FREED! , age 30. Visual artist. Has a degree from The Alexander Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia in Moscow. Nadia and Masha are serving 2 years on charges of “hooliganism” for their 1-minute performance on February 21, 2012 in a priests-only section of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The investigator’s report claims the performance was an act of religious hatred. The intention of the performance was to draw attention to the special relationship between President Putin and the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The police were instructed to arrest the group’s known members a week after an edited video of the performance appeared on Youtube. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has recently made clear its intentions to hear a complaint registered by the defense team about how the trial was organized in the Moscow Khamovnichesky Court.