Update: Well, it didn’t sound at all plausible that the Tagansky court in Moscow was suddenly going to approach the Pussy Riot case in a manner fair, reasonable, proportionate and law-abiding, when, over the past four months, the authorities have made very deliberate show of being disproportionate, unreasonable and thuggish. Ekaterina Samutsevich was entirely correct when she complained yesterday that she and the other two jailed Pussy Rioters are being made a deliberate example of in order to discourage others. They have been caged during court sessions, denied visits from husbands and children. They have seen their detention extended and extended again while the prosecution compiled an absurd 2,800 page, 7-volume case against them, and then the defense team was given only 5 days to study it (someone calculated 3 minutes per page). The serious charge of hooliganism (with its 7-year maximum sentence) is clearly inapplicable to their actions which are at worst public mischief worthy of a fine. They have, several times, been driven to refuse food in protest of their treatment. Samutsevich staged a five day hunger strike in order to get herself removed from a group cell where the other occupants “seemed to have all sorts of grievances against her,” as a lawyer laconically put it. They continue to be denied bail on the grounds that they are flight risks, despite being the most recognizable ‘criminals’ in the whole of Russia (if you don’t count the political and business classes) and in dismissive spite of a document signed by some hundred cultural luminaries pledging to serve as guarantors of the girls’ appearance in court. (Amongst the signatories, I note some veterans of the old Soviet indie/underground Rock scene.)

Defense attorney Nikolai Polozov is sticking to his story that certain persons of authority and knowledge let it be known to him that a decision favorable to the accused should be expected Monday (yesterday), but that is looking more like a callous joke than an inside scoop. While other members of the Pussy Riot collective remain in hiding, the three behind bars will stay there until July 24th at the very least. I have seen it predicted that verdict, sentence and all but inevitable denial of appeal will likely wait until the dog days of August when the Russian capital is famously empty. Having glimpsed the writing on that wall, the trio have sent an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. Guilt, innocence and the nature and scale of the transgression would seem to matter far less than how tough the Russian church and state feel they need to appear at home and abroad, and how little mockery they can endure.

Pussy Riot are badasses

Swamp Buggy Badass (Pussy Riot edition) 2.0, NSFW from 12Razum on Vimeo.

Original: On the eve of trial proper, with defense lawyers given only 5 days (two full working days) to study a 2,800 page investigation and indictment, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich having resorted in protest to a hunger strike after 4 months pretrial incarceration, suddenly there are rumors of imminent release for Pussy Riot:

Pussy Riot Could Go Free Monday

Members of the all-female punk band Pussy Riot may be freed Monday at their scheduled hearing, a lawyer for the women said Sunday.

“I have information from the most reliable source that the girls will be freed,” Pussy Riot lawyer Nikolai Polozov said, Interfax reported. My source said the following: concerning your case, it will be resolved favorably.”

Political activist Alina Oraztsova offered similar news on Twitter, saying the band’s lawyers had received a call from the Kremlin indicating the women would be freed.
- Moscow Times

The Free Pussy Riot site (www.freepussyriot.org) btw., has been under cyber-attack for several days now. Meanwhile, the Radio Echo on-line petition protesting the criminal prosecution of the three has garnered 36,995 signatures. Would that Bradley Manning had this level of popular, and indeed global support.