Pussy Riot (Photo: PA)
A Russian court has found the three members of Pussy Riot guilty of ‘hooliganism motivated by religious hatred’ in the face of widespread anger surrounding the trial.
With prosecutors requesting a three-year prison term in the event of a guilty verdict, Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich are now expected to be sentenced later today (August 17th).
“This is a trial of the whole government system of Russia, which so likes to show its harshness toward the individual, its indifference to his honour and dignity,” Tolokonikovoy told the court. “If this political system throws itself against three girls it shows this political system is afraid of truth.”
“I am not scared of you,” Maria Alekhina later added. “I’m not scared of lies and fiction, or the badly formed deception that is the verdict of this so-called court. Because my words will live, thanks to openness. When thousands of people will read and watch this, this freedom will grow with every caring person who listens to us in this country.”