Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1794

August 17:

The international community was quick to decry the sentencing of the members of punk band Pussy Riot to two years in a penal colony. A White House spokesman called the decision “disappointing and the sentences disproportionate,” reports the New York Times, while rallies supporting the women’s cause were held in dozens of international cities, including Paris, New York, and London. Several protestors were arrested outside the Russian courthouse after clashes broke out, including former chess champion Garry Kasparov. In sentencing them, the judge called the group’s action in the church “motivated by religious hatred,” and criticized them for embracing feminism.

Kasparov plans to press charges against the police, claiming that he was brutally beaten at the sentencing of the punk band’s members. Kasparov told the Daily Beast that while standing outside the courthouse, a reporter motioned him into the courtroom, causing him to leave the cordoned-off area for activists. He says he was immediately rushed by seven or eight police officers, who beat him and threw him in a van, adding, “They were trying to break my leg.” He concluded that his arrest and the Pussy Riot trial “just shows that Russia has nothing to do with the rule of law... We’ve been saying Putin is a dictator for years who doesn’t care about the law. Today, he proved it.”

August 18:

The New York Times suggests corruption in Russia is accepted as “just a way of life.” “It is not simply about officials abusing power,” said photojournalist Misha Friedman, “it’s also about ordinary people comfortably adapting these principles to their daily lives.” He suggests that many among the thousands of people protesting in the streets of Russia have traveled the world, and “feel embarrassed when their peers...ask about the Pussy Riot trial or the imprisonment of Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky.” He argues that they believe Putin’s leadership is steadily driving Russia into a medieval-era country “with corruption trumping all laws.” But he concludes that the people of Russia are equally to blame. “I see corruption as more than something done to people,” he said. “[I]t is something they participate in. It involves both a resignation to and a justification of a state of iniquity, insecurity and mistrust.”

August 20:

Russia’s largest Muslim organizations launched the country’s first public Muslim television channel. Reuters reports the channel, Al-RTV, will be governed by a public council comprised of representatives from all of Russia’s Islamic organizations. The launch was coordinated with the Uraza Bairam holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. So far, the channel is available in eight Russian regions and six North Caucasus republics.

August 21:

The Wall Street Journal Europe reports political opposition members refuse to let the Pussy Riot case die. In the latest development, members of the hacker collective Anonymous hacked into the official website of the Khamovnichesky District Court, posting a new song by the punk band called “Putin is Lighting the Fires of the Revolution,” and renaming links with comments like “Free Pussy Riot,” and “Only an Open Trial Can Be Fair.” The hackers told BBC’s Russian service that “We do not forget or forgive... Tyranny cannot judge.”

August 23:

Russia’s human rights head joined other rights groups and Western governments in calling the Pussy Riot verdict “excessive,” and added a warning that the case “was igniting dangerous social tensions.” Vladimir Lukin, nominated by President Putin, suggested he might challenge the sentencing if they are unsuccessful on appeal. In a Western state, he suggested, the incident would be an administrative matter, rather than a criminal court case. Reuters reports that the women’s attorneys expect to file an appeal in the near future, which Lukin hopes will involve a more careful consideration of “all the aspects of this case.”