They should have been imprisoned for murdering music and dance, not for hooliganism
According to the Associated Press, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alekhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, members of the Pussy Riot punk rock band, were arrested in March for a February 21 guerrilla performance in Moscow's main Orthodox cathedral where they high-kicked and danced while singing a "punk prayer" pleading with the Virgin Mary to save Russia from Vladimir Putin, who was elected to a third term as Russia's president two weeks later.
Prosecution witnesses accused the women of sacrilege and "devilish dances" in church and said that their feminist views made them hate the Orthodox religion. Church officials were particularly offended by the song ‘Holy Shit.’
On Friday, a Moscow judge sentenced the three punk rock feminists to two years in prison for hooliganism. Judge Marina Syrova said in her verdict that the band members "committed hooliganism driven by religious hatred." The judge did not buy their argument that they were protesting the Orthodox Church's support for Putin and didn't intend to offend religious believers.
The arrests and now the verdict have led to world-wide condemnations and street protests. The United States, Britain, France and Germany denounced the sentences and Amnesty International said it "shows that the Russian authorities will stop at no end to suppress dissent and stifle civil society."
The Pussy Riot band invaded the cathedral. I’ve watched video clips of the punk rockers’ performance in front of the cathedral’s alter before they were forcibly ejected. Their high kicking theatrics, their erratic jumping around and their singing - if by any stretch of the imagination you can call it singing - was a no-talent performance that should have sickened all music and dance lovers.
I believe they deserved to be sent to prison, but not for hooliganism. They should have been imprisoned for murdering music and dance.
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