Four members of the feminist punk group have been sentenced to 15 days in prison after a pitch invasion during the World Cup final in Russia. We look at some of their most high-profile protests to date.A Moscow court sentenced Veronika Nikulshina, Olga Kuracheva, Olga Pakhtusova and Pyotr Verzilov on Monday to 15 days in prison. It also banned them from visiting sports events for three years.
The four members of Pussy Riot, a Russian feminist activist group, were found guilty of “grossly violating the rules for spectators’ behavior” and given the maximum punishment possible under the charge.
The protest action took place at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium on Sunday and briefly halted play in the second half of the match between France and Croatia. Watching from the stands were Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron.
Pussy Riot immediately posted messages on social media claiming responsibility for the protest. They also issued a list of six demands, including “Let all political prisoners free,” “Stop illegal arrests on rallies” and “Allow political competition in the country.”
Another famous protest
Pussy Riot is perhaps most famous for performing an anti-Putin protest song in a central Moscow church in February 2012.
Three of the group’s members were subsequently convicted of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” at a trial that attracted global media attention and drew protests from rights groups.
On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Russia’s treatment of the protestors, finding that three Pussy Riot members arrested in 2012 had been subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment and that their rights to a fair trial and to liberty had been violated.
Group members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina were released after serving 22 months of their two-year sentences. The other convicted member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was given a suspended sentence.
(ap, afp)
