One Pussy Riot Member Freed by Moscow Court

By Natalya Krainova

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: October 11, 2012 (Issue # 1730)

Igor Tabakov / MT From left, Samutsevich, Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova sitting in the defendants’ glass cage in court Wednesday.

MOSCOW — A Moscow court Wednesday released one member of punk band Pussy Riot and upheld two-year prison terms for the other two members convicted of hooliganism for performing a song decrying President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral.

The Moscow City Court freed Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, in the courtroom, to the joyous screams of about 130 spectators and reporters outside the courtroom where the band members' appeal was being heard Wednesday.

The court upheld prison terms for the two other defendants in the trial on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Maria Alyokhina, 24 — issued by Moscow's Khamovnichesky District Court in mid-August.

Hundreds of reporters and spectators converged on the court building Wednesday for the appeal hearing in a case that has prompted criticism from fellow musicians including Madonna and Paul McCartney and from Western governments. Human rights groups have also denounced the jailing and convictions of the women.

The Moscow City Court judges didn't acquit Samutsevich, instead freeing her on the basis of her lawyer's argument that her punishment should be softened because Samutsevich had only planned to take part in the performance but didn't actually participate, having been prevented from doing so by guards at the church.

Her lawyer, Irina Khrunova, said Samutsevich had barely managed to mount the solea, the raised area of the cathedral where the other members performed their song, put on a balaclava and get out a guitar before guards grabbed her and led her out of the church.

The trio was convicted partly on the basis of witness testimony citing specific movements Pussy Riot members had made during their performance on the solea that had offended them as religious believers.

The court accepted Khrunova's argument and replaced the prison term for Samutsevich with a two-year suspended sentence.

She will be on probation for two years, during which time she cannot change her place of residence without notifying the authorities, must check in with authorities once a month and must not take part in similar performances or will go to prison, judge Larisa Polyakova said.

"I want to draw your attention to this," Polyakova said, raising her voice at Samutsevich, who had let out a celebratory cry in the defendants' glass cage. "Is this clear to you?" the judge said.

"Yes," Samutsevich replied, smiling.

Mark Feigin, one of the trio's defense lawyers, told reporters outside the court building after the hearing that the more lenient sentence for Samutsevich could be a kind of "political game" that authorities were playing given that "the law didn't work" in regard to the other two defendants.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International, which had declared the three Pussy Riot members prisoners of conscience, called the ruling a "half-measure."

"Any decision that shortens the wrongful detention of the three women is welcome. But no one should be fooled — justice has not been done today," the organization said in a statement.

Feigin had been concerned that the court could be influenced in its ruling by comments made by President Vladimir Putin in a televised interview Sunday, Putin's 60th birthday, in which the president said he approved of the two-year prison terms for the punk rockers.

Feigin called on the judges not to be guided in their decision by Putin's words.

"It is unacceptable for anyone, even the president, to influence the court," Feigin said at Wednesday's hearing.