PEN International welcomes today’s news that one of the three Pussy Riot band members accused of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, Ekaterina Samusevich, has been freed on a suspended sentence. However, two other band members, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, remain in prison to serve the remainder of their two-year sentences in a penal colony. That the two women remain in prison, and that the third, while free, has not been acquitted, is deeply shocking. PEN continues to call for their immediate and unconditional release.

Background Information

The three women have been held for more than six months, having been arrested in early March shortly after the punk band had staged a “flash” performance of their “Punk Prayer,” a song criticizing the close relationship between the Orthodox Church and President Putin, at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. A video recording of the performance, which was curtailed after a few minutes when church officials removed the band members from the premises, has been widely circulated on the Internet, leading Pussy Riot to become internationally famous as symbols of the growing repression of dissent in Russia.

According to a report on today’s appeal hearing by Miriam Elder, who has been covering the trial for the Guardian, Samusevich was freed when the judge ruled that she “did not engage in the ‘aggressive movements’ that had offended Russia’s Orthodox believers” as she had been thrown out of the Cathedral before she could take part in the performance. As the other two women bid Samusevich good-bye from the glass walled box in which they are held during the trial hearings, Elder reports, Alyokhina told the court “I have lost all hope in the court...but I want again and for the last time, because we probably won’t get another chance, to talk about our motives. Dear believers, we did not mean to offend you.”

Read PEN International's translation of their “punk prayer” Punk Moleben and its contex.

Read PEN Russia’s open letter to Vladimir Putin in support of Pussy Riot members.

We also recommend articles and tweets by Guardian Moscow correspondent Miriam Elder, who was present at the trial: @MiriamElder

Write A Letter

  • Expressing shock at the two-year sentences handed to Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samusevich;
  • Welcoming the release of Ekaterina Samusevich on a suspended sentence upon appeal, but expressing concern that her freedom is not unconditional;
  • Pointing out that the harsh sentence is clearly in retaliation for the lyrics of the song performed by Pussy Riot members, containing language that is strongly critical of the Church and of President Putin in particular, and is in breach of  international conventions, specifically Article 19 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, to which Russia is a signatory;
  • Therefore calling for the immediate and unconditional release of both Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova, and the complete dismissal of the charges against all three women.

Send Your Letter To

Mr. Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
Kremlin
Moscow
Russia
Fax: +7 095 206 5173 / 230 2408
Send a message through the Kremlin web site

You may find that the Russian ambassador in your own country is more likely to respond to your appeals, so we recommend that you either write to him or her directly or send a copy of your appeal.


Messages of solidarity to the prisoners can be sent via Free Pussy Riot!