Pussy Riot fear getting shafted by court

AP

Feminist punk group Pussy Riot members, from left, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012. Prosecutors on Tuesday called for three-year prison sentences for feminist punk rockers who gave an impromptu performance in Moscow's main cathedral to call for an end to Vladimir Putin's rule, in a case that has caused international outrage and split Russian society.(AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

Yekaterina Samutsevich’s father had his first hint that his studious daughter was part of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot when he received a call to bail her out of jail.

Like other members of the political protest group, she wore a brightly coloured balaclava at performances and used various nicknames at interviews in the belief that anonymity was as vital to their militant philosophy as the ability to shock.

But any last hope of keeping her identity a secret died when she and two bandmates were arrested after Pussy Riot belted out a profanity-laced “punk prayer” deriding Vladimir Putin on the altar of Moscow’s main cathedral on February 21.

Samutsevich, 29, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Maria Alyokhina, 24, are now instantly recognisable. Television footage of their faces peering out of a court room cage are beamed across Russia daily as they face trial on charges of hooliganism, motivated by religious hatred, for which the state prosecutor wants a three-year jail term.

“It was a shock the authorities made such a serious case out of this,” said Samutsevich’s father, Stanislav.

His daughter, like her bandmates, is a well educated, middle class Muscovite and graduated top of her class. But he is now preparing for the prospect of seeing her imprisoned.

The women have been denounced by Russian Orthodox Christians for doing “the devil’s work” but are held up as heroes by the Russian opposition – whose leaders portray the trial as part of a crackdown on dissent by Putin since he returned to the presidency in May.

Pussy Riot has about 10 to 20 members at any given time and no fixed line-up. Its members make their appearances hiding their faces inside their balaclavas, usually wearing short dresses and mismatched tights, and wielding electric guitars.

Countless international rock stars, including Sting, Peter Gabriel, Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, have spoken out in their defence.

The trial is proving life-changing for those around them. Friends and families are under surveillance and two band members have fled abroad.

The collective protest group is rooted in a Russian tradition of radical performance art.

The group was born in October last year after Putin and former president Dmitry Medvedev announced they planned to swop jobs. Although Putin still had to win a presidential election, which he duly did in March, many Russians saw their decision as a slap in the face of democracy. It also meant Putin, who was president from 2000 to 2008, and prime minister for four years until May, would be back in the Kremlin for six more years until 2018.

Pussy Riot first made a splash in January when they sang Rebellion in Russia/Putin pissed himself in Red Square. The performers were hauled away by police and fined. That was when Samutsevich’s father came to bail her out. They again donned their costumes a few weeks later to perform their punk prayer to the Virgin Mary to Throw Putin out! in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. Other performances became internet sensations.

Pussy Riot appear to have been surprised by the degree of outrage among Orthodox believers and their church leaders. The prosecution’s case is built around the offence felt by believers in a country where the Orthodox Church has enjoyed a revival since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Pussy Riot’s supporters, friends and family say the judiciary is not independent and fear the worst.

“There is no hope in this court. It is an especially organised tribunal to put pressure on any manifestation of opposition in the country,” Stanislav Samutsevich said. – Reuters