Jailed Members Of Pussy Riot Receive Support From PM Medvedev

Pussy Riot Jailed Members Of Pussy Riot Receive Support From PM Medvedev

The 3 jailed members of controversial Russian punk group Pussy Riot have received a message of support from the most unlikely of places. Speaking at a regional meeting of members from the ruling United Russia party on Wednesday Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev said he believed that the trio had been too harshly punished for their actions.

He said: “The term is very strong. I would even say a terrible burden…I don’t want to replace the judge … but the time they have already served is, in essence, more than enough to make them think about what happened, whether it was from their own stupidity or for other reasons.”

Medvedev also said that he believed that keeping them behind bars would be “unproductive.” However he did tow the party line somewhat by claiming that he was “sickened” by the women’s actions and the “hysteria” that surrounded it.

The 3 jailed Pussy Rioters are Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30. They were convicted in August for hooliganism for an impromptu concert in February where they appeared in brightly colored balaclavas whilst dancing and singing along to a song that criticized President Vladimir Putin. The concert took place inside Moscow’s main cathedral. They were arrested in March and denied bail until their conviction last month which saw them delivered 2-year jail terms.

There arrest and imprisonment caused outrage in the West, with organizations like Amnesty International quick to support them. Several high profile celebrities have also lent their support to helping get them freed, including Madonna, Paul McCartney, Bjork and Sting.

Nikolai Polozov, one of the trio’s lawyers said that Medvedev’s comments were sound legal advice and he said he hoped that the courts would take note of it.

He told Interfax news: “As a lawyer, I believe that Medvedev definitely knows the administrative and criminal codes well enough to realize that there is no crime in this case…If the Moscow City Court takes a legal position that is similar to Medvedev’s … it will mean certain success in this case and we will be able to pull them out of the detention center at last.”

Pussy Riot recently announced that they would be releasing an eBook containing letters from jail and messages from supporters like Yoko Ono, the proceeds of which would be put towards bolstering their legal defense.

(Via WSJ)