Pussy Riot try to perform at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. Photograph: Sergey Ponomarev/AP
Artists and musicians around the world have called for their
release. Now, nearly four months after three women were arrested for
performing a
protest
anthem inside Moscow's most important Orthodox church, Christ the
Saviour cathedral, a growing number of Russians are joining calls for
their freedom.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Ekaterina Samutsevich and
Maria Alehina – all members of the anarchic Pussy Riot punk band – have
been in prison since March, held on charges of hooliganism which could
eventually mean a seven-year sentence. Many Muscovites were happy enough
to see a tough response to the band's irreverent act of rebellion,
which was aimed at President
Vladimir Putin.
But with no trial date set, no signs that they will be released and
opposition to Putin spreading, support for the trio has grown, even
among those who at first condemned them.
"Their actions insulted
me, because I'm religious," said Alexander Ivanov, a popular musician.
"It's not what they said, it's where they did it. I was offended – but
for them to get seven years in jail for an unsuccessful experiment,
that's going too far."
Ivanov is one of more than 100 cultural
figures who signed an open letter last week calling on the state to
release the women, in an indication that popular unease at their plight
is growing.
"It scares me that, for a rather unsuccessful, but
extreme, cultural experiment, they want to jail them for so many years,"
he said. "Artists need to have freedom."
Some of
Russia's
best-known opposition figures – satirist Viktor Shenderovich, poet Lev
Rubinstein, musician Yury Shevchuk – signed the letter. Other names were
more surprising, such as those of actress Chulpan Khamatova and actor
Yevgeny Mironov, both of whom appeared in videos for Putin's re-election
campaign earlier this year. Director Fyodor Bondarchuk, a prominent
supporter of Putin's, also added his name. The signatories warned of the
social divisions caused by the case, stating: "While the participants
in the performance have been held under arrest, an atmosphere of
impatience has grown in society which will cause division and
radicalism. We do not see any legal foundation or practical sense in
further isolating from society these young women who present no real
danger."
Nearly 25,000 other supporters have added their names to
the letter, which was published on the website of the liberal radio
station Ekho Moskvy.
The domestic groundswell of opinion comes
after a concerted international campaign. Beastie Boy Ad-Rock – real
name Adam Horowitz – has performed at a Pussy Riot benefit in New York;
the US punk band Anti-Flag have released an English-language cover of
the controversial Punk Prayer, and the Tokyo Palace in Paris has opened
an exhibit on the jailed rockers.
Benefits have been held in
Prague, Warsaw and Tallinn, where the Estonian president was in
attendance. But such backing from Russia's cultural intelligentsia was
until recently all but non-existent. Artemy Troitsky, Russia's premier
rock critic, thinks similar acts in Russia would be impossible. "We
could put on a concert in support of Pussy Riot in a forest or
something," he said. "But in our police state it's not realistic to put
on such a concert – it would be stopped."
Troitsky, a harsh regime
critic with a sharp, expletive-laden tongue, has instead gathered
hundreds of artists to put together a series of albums to support the
growing movement against Putin's rule – and to call for Pussy Riot's
release. The so-called "White Album" has more than 350 artists so far; a
proper album is in the works. Troitsky is hoping for songs, or messages
of support, from stars such as Paul McCartney or Madonna, who will
perform in St Petersburg in August.
"We're calling for honest
elections, a fight against corruption, justice and freedom for political
prisoners – Pussy Riot first," Troitsky said. "They are the clearest
and most undoubtable case of people arrested for political reasons."
Last
week Amnesty International again called for the release iof the three
women, whom they have dubbed prisoners of conscience. The statement came
after a Moscow court extended the trio's detention until 24 July. No
trial start date has been set.
"The case is dragging on because
they can't do anything – on the one hand, they can't let them go because
it would be against Putin's order; on the other hand, they can't start
the trial because they have no argument," Troitsky said. Putin
criticised Pussy Riot's performance shortly after their arrest, which
many in Russia took as a signal of his support for the criminal case
against them.
The longer it drags on, the more public acts of
defiance grow. Last week, actor and director Olga Darfi strutted down
the red carpet at the opening of Moscow's International Film Festival in
a makeshift pink balaclava.
"I don't share their point of view
and I'm not aesthetically close to what they do, and maybe they deserve
some administrative punishment," Darfi said. "But that they're in jail
is totally illegal. And we have to fight against this situation and
create social pressure – if we do nothing then any of us can find
ourselves in this situation. It's very dangerous."Pussy Riot shot to
notoriety inside Russia with their flash performances of anti-Putin punk
songs, accompanied by a revolutionary look of bright balaclavas and
stockings. A February performance inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ
the Saviour, dubbed Punk Prayer, led to their arrest. The
anti-government lyrics, delivered in the heart of official Orthodox
Christianity, shocked the nation.
The powerful Orthodox church has
continually attacked the band. Last week its spokesman, Vsevolod
Chaplin, said that God had told him in a divine revelation that he
"condemns what they have done". He added: "This sin will be punished in
this life and the next."The signatories of the open letter in support of
Pussy Riot warned of the social divisions caused by the case. "While
the participants in the performance have been held under arrest, an
atmosphere of impatience has grown in society which will cause division
and radicalism.
"We do not see any legal foundation or practical
sense in further isolating from society these young women who present no
real danger," the letter said. Nearly 25,000 readers have added their
names to the letter, which was published on the website of liberal radio
station Echo Moskvy.
Miriam Elder @
'The Guardian'