UPDATE 1-Russian police pursuing other members of Pussy Riot
Pressure kept up despite outcry over jailing of 3 members
Russian FM dismisses Western criticism as
"hysterics"
By Steve Gutterman and Alissa de Carbonnel
MOSCOW, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Russian police are hunting for
more members of the Pussy Riot punk rock band, a spokeswoman said, signalling
further pressure on the group despite an international outcry over jail terms
for three women who protested in a church against Vladimir Putin.
The Russian president's critics condemned the court
proceeding that yielded the two-year prison sentences on Friday as part of a
clampdown on a protest movement and reminiscent of show trials of dissidents in
the Soviet era.
Police said on Monday they were searching for other members
of the group over the February protest at Moscow's Christ the Saviour
Cathedral, but had not yet identified the suspects.
They did not say how many people they were looking for, nor
whether they faced arrest and charges. Five members of the anonymous feminist
punk group stormed the church altar in brightly coloured balaclavas, mismatched
dresses and wielding an electric guitar, but only three were arrested and
tried.
Although the search was launched before Friday's verdict,
the determination of police to pursue other Pussy Riot members suggested the
Kremlin would keep the heat on the band despite the furore over the punishment
imposed on the three young women.
A lawyer for Pussy Riot, Mark Feigin, said he believed
police knew the identity of the other two women and had video surveillance
footage of them walking into the church.
He said the search handed police a tool to put pressure on
any of Pussy Riot's 10 plus members continuing its protest. "If you put some
unidentified persons on the wanted list, then you can arrest whoever you want
in a balaclava," he said.
In an interview last week, other members of Pussy Riot -
their faces hidden behind colourful masks like those worn during the "punk
prayer" - said the trial had only strengthened their resolve to stage new
protests.
On Friday, the band released a new song entitled "Putin
is Lighting the Fires of Revolution."
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and
Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, were convicted of hooliganism motivated by
religious hatred over their performance of a "punk prayer" urging the
Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin.
A police spokeswoman said other unidentified members of
Pussy Riot were being sought under a criminal case that was now separate from
that against the three performers who were tried.
NO OFFENCE TO DEVOUT, PROTESTERS SAY
Tolokonnikova's husband, Pyotr Verzilov, said Pussy Riot
members remaining at large want "normal lives" and painted the police
statement as part of a wider Kremlin crackdown on opponents who hope to stage
mass street protests in the autumn.
"Putin likes the taste of repression," he told
Reuters.
Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina and Samutsevich said they had
sought to protest against Putin's close ties with the Russian Orthodox Church
and had not set out to offend believers.
Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, whose works are being
read by Samutsevich in jail, said the trial showed Russia's system of power was
"immensely fragile" and likened Pussy Riot to dissident poets in the
era of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
"The greatest appreciation for poetry in Stalinism was
that you could have been shot for a poem," Zizek said in Moscow.
The United States, European Union and several nations have
called the sentences disproportionate, and Washington has urged Russian
authorities to "review" the case.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, asked about the
Western criticism, warned against interference in judicial affairs and said
people should not "go into hysterics" about the case. He denied
accusations that the trial was politically motivated and said the women could
still appeal.
"Let's not draw hasty conclusions or go into
hysterics."
[…]
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