In a “repressive” decision, Moscow city court refuse to release two members of punk feminist group Pussy Riot. Elena Vlasenko reports
Moscow city court has refused to release two members of punk feminist group Pussy Riot. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina were arrested after having performed a protest song “Mother of God, send Putin away” in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour cathedral on charge of hooliganism. Now they will be staying under arrest until 24 April, when they face trial and might be sentenced to up to seven years in prison.
The case is seen as politically motivated as Russia’s prime minister Vladimir Putin, who has just won the presidential elections, was likely to take offence at the protest, according to Tolokonnikova’s husband and Moscow art activist Petr Verzilov. That might be the reason why the court did not take into consideration that both Tolokonnikova and Alekhina have young children.
Lawyers for members of Pussy Riot have expressed concern that the judge who sanctioned their arrest is also offended and biased: in July 2010 she tried a case against organisers of the “Forbidden Art” exhibition. They were found guilty of “debasing religious beliefs of citizens and inciting religious hatred”. Tolokonnikova together with other Voina activists protested against the verdict by bringing cockroaches to the court room and letting them free there.
Russia’s leading human rights activists Lyudmila Alekseeva and Lev Ponomaryov have condemned Tolokonnikova’s and Alekhina’s arrest, calling the court decision “repressive” and highlighting selectivity of Russian judicial system.
While Pussy Riot remains under arrest awaiting trial, a policeman in the city of Kazan who is suspected of violence against a detainee which led to his death was released before the trial. The policeman together with his colleagues in Kazan’s Dalni police department allegedly raped the detainee with a champagne bottle.
A number of single pickets supporting Tolokonnikova’s and Alekhina’s have taken place near the court building. Three protesters were arrested for breaking the rules on pickets after instigators, allegedly from pro-Kremlin youth movements, tried to attack them, take away their placards and initiate a scuffle. Activists in Novosibirsk have created “icons” depicting Pussy Riot members. The church has already called it hooliganism and asked for an investigation.
Meanwhile another political prisoner, Taisiya Osipova — a member of The Other Russia opposition movement, and also a mother of a small child — has been refused freedom until her trial in Smolensk. She was sentenced to ten years on charges of drug trafficking in December. After mass protests against her prosecution, with even President Medvedev saying the verdict was “too cruel”, the court cancelled the verdict and submitted the case for reconsideration. Osipova, who has diabetes and claims the case was trumped-up as a revenge for her and her husband’s membership in The Other Russia, was to be released on 13 March. Now she will stay under arrest until 15 June. Her supporters also worry that the biased court will find her guilty again.
Both Osipova and Pussy Riot’s cases were subjects of mass protest rallies in Moscow. All the rallies’ resolutions included the demand to release political prisoners immediately. Just as the other requirements, this one was not fulfilled by Russian authorities.
If anyone doubted that protest mood remained strong in Russia, politically motivated cases might be the reason not to have any more doubts.
Opposition activist Taisiya Osipova was sentenced to ten years on charges of drug trafficking on Friday. Rights activists allege that her arrest is a political move to silence both her and her husband. Both are members of The Other Russia opposition movement.
No journalists were present at the Smolensk city court when Ospiova was sentenced to ten years of liberty deprivation in a colony on 29 December. The Other Russia condemned her arrest in a statement said that the sentence would be fatal for Osipova, who has severe diabetes and pancreatitis as well as a five year old child.
Osipova and her husband Sergey Fomchenkov both support the founder of the Russian radical National Bolshevik Party (NBP) Eduard Limonov, which was banned in 2005 and subsequently revived under the name The Other Russia. Fomchenkov is a political council member for the organisation, and Osipova is an activist.
Taisiya Osipova first became well-known in 2003, when she smacked the Smolensk governor Victor Maslov with a bunch of carnations and shouted “You are getting fat at the expense of simple people. NBP says hello.” She was then given one year’s probation.
Osipova was initially arrested on drug charges in November 2010 after police found suspicious powder and marked bonds in her flat. Investigators accused her of selling and storing heroin, and a criminal case was then filed. Human rights activists expressed concern over the credibility of the sentence, because no fingerprints were analysed with the drugs allegedly found at Osipova’s flat, and three witnesses in the case were pro-Kremlin youth movement members, who are traditionally hostile to opposition organisations. This has raised suspicions that the drugs were planted in her flat to frame her, which is a common practise with corrupt law enforcement official.
Many organisations and activists have spoken out against Osipova’s arrest and called for her release, including The Other Russia, World Organization Against Torture, Russian rights activist organisations including Memorial and The Committee for Civil Rights, and public figures like musician Yury Shevchuk and Evgenia Chirikova, an activist for the Khimki forest. Osipova claims that operatives told her that they would release her if she testified against her husband; she refused.
A number of peaceful protests were held in Russia’s biggest cities this year, and many participants were detained by the police. Two biggest post-Soviet rallies in Moscow had a demand to release political prisoners immediately in their resolutions. But Osipova has yet to be released.
While many criminals are allowed to remain free, Osipova, “whose case the public considers faked-up”, remains in prison, Yury Shevchuk stated in his video address in Osipova’s support.
Along with antiextremism and defamation, drug law is often times used to silence opposition activists and outspoken critics of the Kremlin. One of the remarkable examples is that of the artist Artyom Loskutov who was arrested based on drug charges in 2009. The Novosibirsk-based artist Loskutov is famous for orchestrating “monstrations”—which are flash mobs with absurd slogans including “Who’s there?,” “Tanya, don’t cry,” and “System, why so nervous?” Loskutov said marijuana was dropped into his pocket by antiextremism police force operatives, as his fingerprints were not found on the pacakge with drugs, and no drug traces were found in his blood or on his hands. In a statement supporting Osipova, Loskutov said “drugs are used as an instrument for political repressions.”
The first meeting of Russia’s newly elected State Duma will be held on 21 December. Tens of thousands of Russians protested the parliamentary elections, based on claims that they were unfair. This week protesters will take to the streets again with a rally against election fraud on 24 December.
The European Parliament echoed the protesters’ concerns, and passed a resolution calling for new parliamentary elections in Russia, as well as a thorough investigation into all reports of alleged fraud on elections held on 4 December. The Russian authorities rejected the EU parliament’s intervention.
Prime-minister Vladimir Putin said the protesters had been paid to attend the 10 December rally, which was the biggest in post-Soviet Russia. Putin added that opposition leaders had referred to them as “sheep” from the stage. Both allegations are untrue. President Dmitry Medvedev said that the EU parliament resolution supporting protestants’ demands “meant nothing”, and former deputy head of State Duma international committee Leonid Slutsky told ITAR-TASS news agency that the resolution was “gross interference in the affairs of a sovereign state”.
The controversial resolution mostly covered the context of the recent elections, but it also highlighted “concerns, regarding the human rights situation in Russia, the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and the repressive measures taken against journalists and the opposition”.
The resolution merely captured the bitter truth of the situation, as proved by events last week. In the Republic of Dagestan — a federal subject of Russia — journalist Khadzhimurad Kamalov, founder of Chernovik, an opposition newspaper, was shot outside his office on 15 December. Kamalov was remembered as a brave man, respected for the risks he took by investing in the independent media. He inspired people to write about corruption and human rights abuse in North Caucasus. His colleagues along with Memorial, an international human rights society said his murder was “political” and motivated by his work. His articles and investigations he made public in Chernovik were widely quoted in Dagestan. Makhachkala city administration filed an open letter to Kamalov in September, accusing him of “libel, deception and mutual distrust fomentation”, which Chernovik journalists regarded as an attempt to silence them.
The detention of one of Russia’s opposition leaders, Sergey Udaltsov further confirms the statements of the EU parliament resolution. Udaltsov was arrested on 4 December while attempting to protest in the rally against violations of election laws, and sentenced to administrative arrest until 25 December. Since his arrest, Udaltsov has been on a dry hunger strike, and his health is under serious threat according to his wife and attorney. He is now in the resuscitation department of one of Moscow’s hospitals. Human rights activists and opposition leaders have expressed concern for his life.
Musician Vassily Shumov, also famous for having held a concert to support music critic Art Troitsky, planned to hold a concert in support of Sergey Udaltsov and other prisoners rights activists considered to be “political”, but was suddenly rejected by the club which had previously agreed to carry it out. Shumov suggested that the club might have declined to participate based on pressure from the authorities.
Opposition leaders, rights activists and public figures are now preparing for the rally on 24 December. It is meant to be the public’s response to authorities, who have ignored their demands to set political prisoners free, hold new and fair parliamentary elections, and to protect freedom of expression. Their primary objective is to encourage citizens to overcome fears of repression for expressing their views, and to build confidence in their ability to influence Russian government policy through publicly expressing their discontent. Christmas Eve will determine whether or not they succeed.