‘Forgiveness’ for Pussy Riot trio jailed over anti-Putin prayer

Published on 19/08/2012 00:00

TWO leading clerics in the Russian Orthodox Church said yesterday it has forgiven the members of punk band Pussy Riot who were jailed for two years for taking over a cathedral in a prayer of protest against Vladimir Putin.

Tikhon Shevkunov, who heads Moscow’s Sretensky monastery and is widely believed to be the Russian 
president’s spiritual counsellor, said on state television that his church forgave the singers right after their “punk prayer” in the Christ the 
Saviour Cathedral in Moscow in February.

“The church has been sometimes accused of not forgiving them,” the cleric said. “We did forgive them from the very start, but such actions should be cut short by society and 
authorities.”

Archpriest Maxim Kozlov agreed, but he also said on state TV that his church hoped the young women and their supporters change their ways.

“We are simply praying and hoping that these young women and all these people shouting in front of the court building, committing sacrilegious acts not only in Russia but in other countries, realise that their acts are awful,” he said. “And despite this the church is asking for mercy within the limits of law.”

Both clerics supported the court’s decision to prosecute Pussy Riot, despite an international outcry. The British, American, French and German governments were among those who denounced the sentences as disproportionate.

The Pussy Riot case has underlined the vast influence of the Russian Orthodox Church. Although church and state 
are formally separate, the church identifies itself as the heart of Russian national identity, and critics say its strength effectively makes it a quasi-state entity. Some Orthodox groups and many believers had urged strong punishment for an action they consider blasphemous.

The head of the church, Patriarch Kirill, has made no ­secret of his strong support for Putin, praising his leadership as “God’s miracle”. He described the punk performance as part of an assault by “enemy forces” on the church.

The Orthodox Church said in a statement after the verdict that the band’s stunt was a “sacrilege” and a “reflection 
of rude animosity towards 
millions of people and their feelings”.

It also asked the authorities to “show clemency towards the convicted in the hope that 
they will refrain from new sacrilegious actions”.

Three members of the band Pussy Riot were jailed for hooliganism on Friday, a decision that drew protests from around the world as it 
highlighted the Russian president’s intensifying crackdown on dissent.

Protesters from Moscow to New York and musicians including Madonna and Sir Paul McCartney condemned the prosecution of the three women. Several countries, including the US and even some Kremlin loyalists, decried the verdict.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alekhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, were arrested in March after performing the “punk prayer” in the Orthodox cathedral, wearing colourful balaclavas as they danced and high-kicked while calling on the Virgin Mary to save Russia from Putin, who was elected to a third term as Russia’s president two weeks later.

Judge Marina Syrova ruled on Friday that the three band 
members had “committed hooliganism driven by religious hatred”.

She rejected the women’s 
arguments that they were 
protesting against the Russian Orthodox Church’s support 
for Putin and claim that they had not intended to offend religious believers.