##### Riot on trial in Moscow

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/anti-putin-feminist-punks-trial-moscow-080658337.html?_esi=1

Anti-Putin feminist punks on trial in Moscow

By LAURA MILLS | Associated Press – 4 hrs ago

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court on Friday launched the trial of three feminist rockers who face a possible seven years in prison for performing a "punk prayer" against Vladimir Putin from the pulpit of Russia's largest cathedral.

The case of the three members of the band ##### Riot has deeply divided Russia, pitting advocates of openness against the forces of order and the powerful Russian Orthodox Church. The three had been held in jail for more than four months without a single court hearing.

The February stunt, two weeks before the election that returned Putin to the presidency, was designed to offend. Five members of ##### Riot — wearing brightly colored balaclavas and miniskirts — briefly took over the pulpit at Christ The Savior Cathedral, chanting "Mother Mary, drive Putin away" and high-kicking cancan-style.

What happened after security guards seized the five was extraordinary — even for a country whose leaders have shown little patience for protest. Three of the band members, two of whom have young children, were thrown into jail and face charges of hooliganism that could bring them seven years if convicted.

Supporters of the three say their jailing and charges are a draconian demonstration of how the church holds heavy sway in the government.

At Friday's preliminary hearing, prosecutors asked that the women — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, Maria Alekhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29 — be held in custody for at least six more months as the trial progresses. Defense attorneys have repeatedly asked for them to be released, in particular so they can take care of their young children.

The Khamovniki District Court building on Friday was surrounded by dozens of riot policemen, along with the band's supporters and critics. The court proceedings were closed to the public.

Amnesty International said on Friday that it considers the three women to be prisoners of conscience "detained solely for the peaceful expression of their beliefs." The organization renewed its call on Russian authorities to drop the charges of hooliganism and release the band members.

The church says the women deserve to be prosecuted for their "blasphemous" performance from a place near the altar on which no lay people are allowed to stand. But thousands of believers have signed a petition urging the church to forgive the band.

Although church and state are separate under Russia's constitution, the Russian Orthodox Church has claimed a leading role in setting moral guidelines for society. Its growing prominence has caused concern among followers of minority faiths and nonreligious Russians.

The case has particularly rattled the Russian intelligentsia. In late June, over one hundred artists and intellectuals — pro- and anti-Putin alike — sent an open letter to the state, calling for the women's release.

In a poll by the independent Levada Center and released by the prominent newspaper Kommersant on Friday, 50 percent of Muscovites said they did not support a criminal trial for the members of ##### Riot, with 36 percent supporting the trial.

##### Riot gained notoriety about a month before the arrest by performing a song titled "Putin Chickens Out" from a spot on Red Square used in czarist Russia for announcing government decrees. Videos of their performances became instant Internet hits.

On Wednesday, the chairman for the parliamentary committee for Family, Women and Children issues Elena Mizulina, called for authorities to look into earlier alleged misbehavior of the three women, who were participants in Voina (War), an art-protest group.

Among the group's most noted outrageous acts was the drawing of an enormous phallus on a drawbridge in St. Petersburg. Tolokonnikova was among the participants in a 2008 obscene "fertility rite" at Moscow museum, mocking Dmitry Medvedev, who was elected Russian president the next day.

Alekhina released a video for the group in which she masturbated in a grocery store with a chicken leg.

The three women face criminal charges for "hooliganism." The language of both state officials and the prosecution has been more moralistic than legal.

"This is only the small, visible tip of an iceberg of extremists," Mikhail Kuznetsov, a lawyer representing church security guards, said in an interview with the newspaper Moscow News on Thursday. "They are aiming to destroy the thousand-year-old traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church, to provoke a schism, and to deceivingly bring the flock not towards God, but towards Satan."

Edited July 21, 2012 by Bad_Daddy

[Darnell 8,478]

If'n they be topless at the pulpit - I'm happy to convert.

Just Saying.

[Darnell 8,478]

Kip - yer a mean SOB.

All the girls in this video must be from China, as all I can see is the board members of the Itty Bitty T|tty Committee...

wth ?

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Kip - yer a mean SOB.

All the girls in this video must be from China, as all I can see is the board members of the Itty Bitty T|tty Committee...

wth ?

It's a chick punk band...probably have no talent. I'l post a few vids for ya of big hootered RUB chicks.

[AmyWrites 593]

I hope they're never allowed to sing again. They're TERRIBLE. It's like hearing cats getting castrated.

[eekee 182]

i don't think the talent, whatever is important here... the important thing is the intersection of the ROC and politics.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I hope they're never allowed to sing again. They're TERRIBLE. It's like hearing cats getting castrated.

I listened to a couple of their vids and their bad.

i don't think the talent, whatever is important here... the important thing is the intersection of the ROC and politics.

The ROC along with the Roman Catholic Church are about as shady as it gets imo. The ROC is just more blatant about it. I always get a kick when that pint size Tsar Putin is walking down the aisle at the Kremlin version of the White House to give a speech and Patriarch KGB is walking right behind him in those stupid robes with that stupid hat like it's a scene right from the days of some long ago Russian Tsar. The Kremlin and the ROC feed off of each other trying to give each other credibility. The ROC isn't known as the right arm of the Kremlin for nothing.

Kiril knows the score though when he comes to Western Ukraine to give one of his bs speeches. It always ends up in riots that include rock throwing and standing cars on their side. His Derzhava brainwashing spiel doesn't extend past the borders of Eastern Ukraine and that's as far as it will ever go outside of Russia.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Kip - yer a mean SOB.

All the girls in this video must be from China, as all I can see is the board members of the Itty Bitty T|tty Committee...

wth ?

Here's a high school graduation day in Moscow. I can't remember ours looking quite this good.

Edited July 21, 2012 by Bad_Daddy

[slim 1,514]

I feel like a pervert after watching the young girls.

... and then I feel old.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I feel like a pervert after watching the young girls.

... and then I feel old.

NP, all legal age of consent.

[slim 1,514]

NP, all legal age of consent.

That's a great point!

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

That's a great point!

I could have said they were "street legal" but that's just a matter of semantics.

[slim 1,514]

And in Russia, it doesn't really matter anyway, does it?

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

And in Russia, it doesn't really matter anyway, does it?

Not that I ever noticed.

[1HappyGuy 45]

It seems that the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church can't get any respect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBxndSXDYjA