A Russian Orthodox has launched a video game in which players attack members of punk feminist group Pussy Riot with a crucifix
According to Reuters, “Players use a mouse to move a cross over the screen and zap colorful cartoon representations of the women from Pussy Riot – each with a balaclava like those worn by the band members in their protest — as they try to enter a white church.”
Pussy Riot have declined to comment on the game.
Two of the punk group, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, are serving sentences in a penal colony after they staged a protest against Vladimir Putin at Moscow’s Christ The Saviour Cathedral in February 2012. A third, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was released on appeal.
Index on Censorship met two members of the eight-woman strong collective in London last month. You can read the interview here.
A Russian court yesterday dismissed the appeal of Maria Alekhina, one of the three members of feminist punk group Pussy Riot. Alekhina, 24, appealed to the local court asking to defer the remaining 13 months of her two year sentence until her six-year-old son, Filipp, turns 14.
Judge Galina Yefremova said that the initial ruling had taken Alekhina’s young son into account, and added that her “felony” is the reason for her son’s suffering, rather than separation from his mother. Alekhina is currently serving her sentence labouring as a seamstress in a prison colony in the Ural mountain city of Berezniki.
Alekhina has six penalties against her in the colony, but she has rejected them, as two of the offences against her were for failing to wake up at 5:30 AM. Alekhina said that she did not hear the call of the reveille, signaling the start of a day working in the colony. Staff from the prison camp testified against Alekhina during yesterday’s hearing. She was also penalised after she attempted to provide her lawyer with documents for the European Court of Human Rights in person rather than by post.
The activist was sentenced to two years in prison along with two other members Pussy Riot, Nadezhda Tolonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich on charges of hooliganism in August 2012
The trio performed a “punk prayer” against Vladimir Putin on 21 February, and charges were brought against them only days after, along with a call from the Russian Orthodox Church for more stringent punishment for blasphemy.
While Samutsevich was released on bail on 10 October, Tolokonnikova and Alekhina were sent to serve their two year sentences in prison colonies. Tolokonnikova is also a mother to a young child and has also appealed for deferment. However, a date has not yet been set for a hearing.
The charges brought against the trio drew criticism and outrage across the globe, with leading human rights organisations condemning the case for being politically motivated.
Alekhina plans to appeal the court’s ruling, but Russian courts rarely change verdicts in politically motivated cases. While unwavering in appealing her case, Alekhina refuses to plead guilty, and said yesterday “no one will ever force me into admitting guilt — not for the sake of deferment or conditional early discharge.”
Last night’s episode of South Park took in a few issues close to our hearts at Index: Belarus, Pussy Riot and the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.
Briefly, in an effort to clean up his image after being exposed as an Armstrongish drug cheat, Jesus Christ begins to campaign on behalf of Belarusian farmers struggling against their government.
The cause becomes a hit — or at least, the coloured plastic bracelets associated with it becomes a hit.
At the end of the episode, Jesus appears in a “Save Pussy Riot” T-shirt.
The episode raises questions about people’s engagement with causes. As Ryan McGee put in at AV Club:
Are they motivated by empathy? By cultural pressure? By the desire to overcompensate for selfish behavior? By the desire to belong to a group? All options are possible, and all play out in one shape or another in tonight’s installment. Mr. Mackey really, really cares about those Belarusian farmers. But he also only cares about them so long as they justify his purchase of a bracelet proclaiming his support of them.
Anyway, apart from all the serious business, the episode does look very, very funny. You can watch some clips here.
Padraig Reidy is news editor of Index on Censorship. Follow him on Twitter – @mePadraigReidy
