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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.
Pussy Riot is:
Maria Alekhina, 24. Poet and Student at the Institute of Journalism and Creative writing. Mother of 5 year-old boy.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23. Visual Artist and forth year Philosophy Student. Mother of 4 year-old girl.
Ekaterina Samucevich, 29. Visual Artist,, degree from The Alexander Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia. Moscow
freepussyriot.org is an international team advocating for the release of Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samucevich, whom they would like to see reunited with their children, families, and supportive community.
The charges are of hooliganism that call for 7 years imprisonment for a 1-minute performance on February 21 in a priests-only section of Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The investigator’s report claims religious hatred. The intention of the performance was to draw attention to the special relationship with President Putin and the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.
One week after the performance at Cathedral of Christ the Savior, an edited video piece appeared on Youtube, and a week after that the police were instructed to arrest the group’s known members.
Since March 4th, the women have sat in pre-trial detention, refused bail due to the authorities’ fear for the women’s safety. Please refer to freepussyriot.org/news for the subsequent 4 months of news.
July 30 – August 15 Moscow’s Khamovnichesky District Court will be considering the merits of the Pussy Riot case.
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has recently made clear its intentions to hear a complaint registered by the defense team.
Supporting Organization:
Amnesty International
Austrian Green Party European Women’s Lobby Free Muse Human Rights Watch Index of Censorship PEN International Russia’s Human Rights Council
Members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot have been imprisoned for art’s sake. To express our Solidarity with fellow artists, musicians and women we will demonstrate 17.08.12 at 11:00 in front of the Russian Embassy, London.
All demonstrators are encouraged to wear a mask and wear a dress even if you are not a woman, or perhaps wear your undies over your head. Polite pop stars have written to news papers and given quiet interviews we intend to make colourful noise so that Nadya, Maria and Yekaterina can hear and see us from the inside of their prison cells. The rehearsals over, now it’s SHOW TIME