An important trial’s going on at the moment in Moscow – one that may be important for the future of political opposition to Vladimir Putin, and that potentially tells us a lot about what’s going on in Russia. You can witness the crime itself in the video above.

Pussy Riot is an anonymous punk feminist collective. We’re told at freepussyriot.org that

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.

They’re funny and cool, as you can see from this interview some of them gave to Carole Cadwalladr of the Observer – and they’re certainly opponents of President Putin. In February, they took over part of a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow and performed the anti-Putin song and dance routine you can see on the video – the music owing a clear debt to Rachmaninov’s Bogoroditse Dyevo. As I understand it, Pussy Riot were symbolically praying for the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin.

Since March, three members of Pussy Riot have been remanded in custody awaiting trial on the charge of hooliganism, which under section 213(2) of the Russian Criminal Code (a less user-friendly but more up-to-date version can be found here) can be punished by up to seven years’ imprisonment. The women have been refused bail since March in spite of the fact that what they did was obviously not dangerous, and that two of them have children.

It’s easy to criticise foreign legal systems without knowing much about them; but this clearly disproportionate refusal of bail, for an offence that hardly merits a risk of imprisonment, clearly shows that what’s happening is unfair. Lawyers for the defence say their clients have been mistreated during the trial itself.

Based on what we see in the video it’s hard to imagine how they can be convicted at all of an offence which is defined as

a gross violation of the public order which expresses patent contempt for society, attended by violence against private persons or by the threat of its use, and likewise by the destruction or damage of other people’s property

or

a gross violation of the public order manifested in patent contempt of society and attended by the use of weapons or articles used as weapon

which are the two English-language versions of the offence set out in the translations of the Criminal Code I linked to earlier.

You have to be a particularly sensitive member of the Russian Orthodox Church (witnesses have been complaining of the deep spiritual pain caused them by Pussy Riot, and they’ve been accused of praying to the devil and of pointing their bottoms towards god) or faint-hearted supporter of Mr. Putin to think this a gross breach of public order. But the deputy editor of Moscow News doubts that the court will determine the case purely on its legal and factual merits. The Russian justice system is on trial, more than the women in the dock.

Here’s an editorial about the case from the FT, and a Time piece about the trial. And here’s what appears to be a reasonably fair account of the trial on Russia Today. RAPSI has live updates of the trial, and the campaign in support of Pussy Riot is at freepussyriot.org.

Incidentally, I recorded a discussion on free speech and social media for Voice of Russia UK this afternoon, with Mark Pack, Vanessa Barnett and Professor Ian Cram. In the half hour discussion we referred to a variety of cases – the Twitter joke trial and the case of Guy Adams for instance – and when we discussed anonymity on the web briefly, I mentioned how important anonymity is to protest groups like Pussy Riot. I made no comment on the trial, and no criticism of the court or the Russian government. But when the programme was aired at 3.30 today, I noticed my reference to Pussy Riot had been edited out.

Free Pussy Riot!

2012-08-01T18:35:32+00:00