Cries of shame that rang out all around the world

Saturday 18 August 2012

Human rights activists have staged protests in cities around the world in support of punk band Pussy Riot after their jailing for two years for hooliganism in Moscow.

PROTESTS: The Pussy Riot jailing has provoked anger around the world

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Debesh Banerjee

The group's backers burst into chants of "shame" outside the courthouse and said the case highlighted President Vladimir Putin's refusal to tolerate dissent in his new six-year term as President. Dozens were detained as scuffles broke out.

In London, banner-waving supporters protested outside the Russian embassy, and demonstrators also took to the streets of Dublin, Paris, Kiev, Berlin and Sofia.A colourful demonstration took place outside the Russian Consulate in Melville Street, Edinburgh, at noon yesterday.Female band members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, were each sentenced to two years in prison for hooliganism driven by religious hatred and offending religious believers.The trio were arrested in March after an unauthorised performance in Moscow's main cathedral calling for the Virgin Mary to protect Russia against President Putin.UK Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said: "I am deeply concerned by the sentencing of three members of the band Pussy Riot, which can only be considered a disproportionate response to an expression of political belief."Reports about conditions of the detention of the women, and the conduct of the trial, are also concerning. The Government is committed to a relationship with Russia in which we can discuss differences frankly and constructively."The band's supporters expressed their outrage outside the building.Tommy Anarchic, 26, lead singer for a London-based electro-punk band, said: "All they did was annoy the right-wing church in Russia, which is a big power in that part of the world. If they did the same performance at a nightclub, they would have been fine."Sir Paul McCartney, Bjork, Sting and Madonna have publicly supported the punk provocateurs. Sir Paul wrote to the women telling them he would do everything in his power to help them.Amnesty International said the trial was politically motivated, and the trio were wrongfully prosecuted for what was a legitimate – if potentially offensive – protest action.John Dalhuisen, director of the group's Europe and Central Asia Programme, said: "The Russian authorities should overturn the court ruling and release the members of Pussy Riot immediately and unconditionally."Catherine Ashton, the high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and vice-president of the European Commission, said she was deeply disappointed with the verdict.She said: "This sentence is disproportionate. Together with the reports of the band members' mistreatment during their pre-trial detention and the reported irregularities of the trial, it puts a serious question mark over Russia's respect for international obligations of fair, transparent, and independent legal process."l A group of Russian anti-gay activists are suing American pop star Madonna for $10 million, (£6.4m) saying she had insulted their feelings when she spoke out for gay rights at a concert in St Petersburg last week.Performing with the words "No Fear" scrawled on her back, the singer attacked a law banning the spreading of homosexual "propaganda". She had earlier called the law a "ridiculous atrocity".

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Cries of shame that rang out all around the world

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