Moments ago, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, a philosophy graduate, Maria Alekhina, 24, a charity worker and environmental activist and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, a computer programming graduate, members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, were found guilty of hooliganism in a Moscow courtroom. Their crime? Criticizing President Vladimir Putin. Each band member received two years in prison. The judge has said they are sane and should be punished in accordance with the law. Shouts of "Shame!" filled the courtroom as the verdict was handed down.
From the Guardian: "MOSCOW — A judge found three members of the provocative punk band Pussy Riot guilty of hooliganism on Friday, in a case that has drawn widespread international condemnation as an emblem of Russia's intolerance of dissent. "The judge said the three band members "committed hooliganism driven by religious hatred" and offended religious believers. The three were arrested in March after a guerrilla performance in Moscow's main cathedral calling for the Virgin Mary to protect Russia against Vladimir Putin, who was elected to a new term as Russia's president two weeks later."
"Nobody can take away my inner freedom. It lives in the word, it will go on living thanks to openness [glasnost], when this will be read and heard by thousands of people. This freedom goes on living with every person who is not indifferent, who hears us in this country. With everyone who found shards of the trial in themselves, like in previous times they found them in Franz Kafka and Guy Debord. I believe that I have honesty and openness, I thirst for the truth; and these things will make all of us just a little bit more free. We will see this yet."
- from their closing statements; entire text, translated to English, located HERE
For more news about the trial, check out BBC Europe's coverage HERE.
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