Members of Russian activist group Pussy Riot has been found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" following a five-month court case, and have been sentenced to two years in jail. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich were arrested in March after they performed an anti-Putin punk prayer in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral. Mass protests around the world took place after the verdict was announced, and a number of people have already been arrested for protesting outside the courtroom including Garry Kasparov, a chess champion and activist.
You can hear a new Pussy Riot single and read a live-blog of today's proceedings over at the Guardian.
Although Pussy Riot is an anarchist performance collective and not a band in the traditional sense-- they are a rotating cast of over forty women and have never released an album-- we did unearth a sick music video that they dropped last November from their Youtube channel called "Putin's Glamour Burns". Despite the fact that it's sung entirely in Russian, the song's fuzzy guitar riffs will make you bring out your inner Riot Grrrl, whip out a fire extinguisher, and mosh.
Update: As part of a protest staged outside St. Petersburg's Kazan Cathedral, Russian artist Petr Pavlensky sewed his own mouth shut and stood holding a sign that read "Pussy Riot act is a replay of a famous act by Jesus Christ." The police called an ambulance for Mr. Pavlensky, but he was discharged on the scene. (via FACT)
Russian punk group Pussy Riot, whose members were arrested in March after chanting an anti-Putin “punk prayer” inside the pulpit of one of Russia’s main orthodox churches, have been given six more months of pre-trial detention. The group has been charged with hooliganism, which could get them a prison sentence of seven years. In a statement, the band explains that the reasons for their demonstration were to protest the "merging of Russian Orthdox Church and the Putin government". There are currently demonstrations being held around the world in an attempt to free the women from jail.
