{"id":92447,"date":"2012-05-15T11:56:50","date_gmt":"2012-05-15T11:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uncut.indexoncensorship.org\/?p=5240"},"modified":"2012-05-15T11:56:50","modified_gmt":"2012-05-15T11:56:50","slug":"pussy-riot-russia-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/?p=92447","title":{"rendered":"Russian punk collective Pussy Riot speaks exclusively to Index"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Moscow court has confirmed that three women accused of being members of \u00a0Pussy Riot<\/a> can be held in prison until trial.<\/p>\n

Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Semutsevich\u00a0had appealed against an earlier decision to keep them in detention until 24 June — when they face charges of hooliganism for allegedly staging an anti-Putin performance in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral. If convicted they\u00a0face up to seven years in prison<\/p>\n

\"Demotix<\/a>\u00a0All three women claim that they were not among the masked performers at the Cathedral.\u00a0Two of the three women have very young children who they believe are suffering without their mothers.<\/p>\n

The women\u2019s arrests triggered an emotional public discussion about the Orthodox church’s relationship with Russian authorities and society. Radical nationalist movement members have been preventing activists<\/a> from protesting against the Pussy Riot arrests. The Church, led by patriarch Kirill, who publically supports Vladimir Putin, performed a public prayer<\/a> in April \u201cagainst blasphemers\u201d. Kirill\u2019s support of the Pussy Riot prosecution has concerned many religious Russians, who have petitioned for the release of the women.<\/p>\n

Members of Pussy Riot who have not yet been arrested are now in hiding. They gave this exclusive email interview to Index on Censorship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Did you expect these consequences — arrests, criminal proceedings, your supporters being beaten and insulted by radical nationalists — when you planned your cathedral performance? Would you repeat the performance if you knew how this would end?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 We didn\u2019t expect the arrest. We are a women\u2019s group which is forced to consume the ideas of patriarchal conservative society. We experience each process that happens in this society. Besides, we are a punk band, which can perform<\/a> in any public place, especially one which is maintained through our taxes.\u00a0That’s why we would definitely repeat our prayer. It was worth it: look at the awakened pluralism — political and religious!<\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0The state remains intolerant towards much artistic expression. What about broader Russian society?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 We are trying to educate society and will definitely take the importance of this process into account in our further actions. We expect people to at least look through Wikipedia after watching us on YouTube.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u00a0What must you do now to avoid arrests?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 After Putin\u2019s inauguration, just wearing a white ribbon on your clothes — a symbol of protest — has become a reason for arrest<\/a> in Moscow. So we don\u2019t wear them now.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Will you continue performing? You said that anonymity helps you replace the band members in case they get arrested. Have many people offered to join you?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 Many people have expressed their wish to participate in our perfomances and we are planning them right now. We don\u2019t consider the patriarch[y]\u2019s ignorant opinion and are not going to perform any protest songs against him personally.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The Russian Orthodox church, according to notable human rights activists, has lost its right to establish moral standards after having severely condemned you, as did some intellectuals who preferred not to notice your persecution. Who, in your perspective, is likely to take their place?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>We think that one can learn moral values through literature, music and art, but definitely not in church. And as far as people are concerned, any human being who advocates humanistic ideas should support any prisoner who has lost her freedom because the authorities are afraid to give up their power.<\/p>\n