Russian Punk Band Is Found Guilty of Hooliganism for Anti-Putin Protest

[OlgaH]

Do Jewish people have right to protest? I think they do. 

MOSCOW (RNS) In an unprecedented step, a prosecutor in provincial Russia is investigating the Russian Orthodox Church for allegedly inciting ethnic hatred by selling anti-Semitic publications, a charge a church spokesman denied Friday (Jan. 11).

The investigation in Yekaterinburg, an industrial city of 1.4 million on the edge of the Ural Mountains, is being hailed by Jewish advocates as a long overdue step in using Russia's anti-hate laws against anti-Semites, even when they are part of the politically powerful Russian Orthodox Church.

Mikhail Oshtrakh, the president of Yekaterinburg's secular Jewish community, has long criticized the city's Russian Orthodox churches for selling books containing excerpts of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a 100-year-old forgery purporting to prove a Jewish conspiracy for world domination. The "Protocols" helped provide a rationale for the Nazi holocaust and Russian pogroms.

Joined last year by the leaders of 11 other Yekaterinburg ethnic minorities, Oshtrakh launched a letter-writing campaign to political leaders in Moscow calling for an investigation. Pressure from Moscow, he said, eventually forced local law enforcement to do something.

"Apparently, on some level, it got somebody's attention," Oshtrakh said Thursday, adding, however, that he is skeptical the investigation will lead to a court case or punishment for the church. "We are not certain the prosecutor will take this to the end."

A spokesman for the Yekaterinburg diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, Hieromonk Dmitry, acknowledged that the anti-Semitic book, "He is at the Door" (referring to Satan), was on sale in church bookstores as part of a seven-volume collection of the works of Sergei Nilus, a Russian Orthodox writer who died in 1929.

"If we are talking about freedom (of speech) then everyone should have the chance to get acquainted with these works, shouldn't they?," Dmitry said Friday. "There are different opinions about this book, both good and bad."

He denied that the Yekaterinburg diocese discriminates against any particular ethnic group, "including the Jews, especially since our Lord God came from the Jews."

Oshtrakh, who is affiliated with the Washington-based Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union, said the Nilus works on sale in Yekaterinburg are undeniably anti-Semitic.

"He wrote in that book that Jews are the followers of the antichrist, that they worship the devil since they don't accept Jesus as God," Oshtrakh said. "Then, (Nilus) goes on with his whole theory that Jews want to take over the world. As proof, he quotes the `Protocols.'"

Yekaterinburg is not the only Russian city where Nilus has a following. In the country's second largest city, St. Petersburg, the first-ever Sergei Nilus Prize is set to be awarded Jan. 13 to a writer "who in writing about the spiritual life of the Russian people confirms Orthodox ideals," according to a press release by the Orthodox St. Petersburg Society.

 http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/Orthodox/2002/01/Russian-Orthodox-Church-Accused-Of-Anti-Semitism.aspx?p=2#ixzz24hITm8S4

[ML]

ML, I posted a link of pictures of naked men and women included heavily pregnant one having sex. Is it not enough sex for you? Admittedly I do not think they used vibrators or even dildos sorry. :-(

I didn't see your link.  Too many pages here to go through.
Dildos and vibrators needed for the women after the man tires or is finished.
We just set another personal record here.

[OlgaH]

ML, I posted a link of pictures of naked men and women included heavily pregnant one having sex. Is it not enough sex for you? Admittedly I do not think they used vibrators or even dildos sorry. :-(

or imitating sex...    who knows 

Ranetka, here is an interesting interview with Nadya and some photos. She also was one of the Khimkinsky Forest activists.

http://sensusnovus.ru/interview/2010/11/15/2469.html


and here is another interesting article in Plucer's blog (you gave link to one of his articles with naked photos) 

http://plucer.livejournal.com/60121.html


About Aleksei Plutser-Sarno

New York Times: "Artist Playing Cat-and-Mouse Faces Russia’s Claws"

http://plucer.livejournal.com/364763.html#cutid1

Interviewing Mr. Plutser-Sarno this month required waiting at the foot of a statue of an 18th-century Ukrainian philosopher for a young woman in a blue coat, who examined passports and led a circuitous walk to his location. Though no one mentioned it at the time, the philosopher was Hryhorii Skovoroda, and his epitaph read, “The world tried to catch me, but it did not succeed.”

If it sounds like a game, there is a good reason for it. For three years, Voina, which means war, has been playing cat-and-mouse with Russian law enforcement, staging street actions that ranged from the obscure (throwing live cats at McDonald’s cashiers) to the monumental (a 210-foot penis painted on a St. Petersburg drawbridge, so that it rose up pointing at the offices of the F.S.B., the security service).

[alyosha]

That may or may not be so, I don't exactly know. I think however, that even making "opinions" illegal, whether true or untrue, flies in the face of the so-called free west. This man was arrested and it was said that "material published by Zundel might cause “like-minded individuals to engage in violence.”

Well, might not the same be said of the punk group or other protesters in Russia who is trying to ignite an Arab-style revolution in Russia? I think so and repeat what I've said before that Putin is the best think to happen to Russia, as well as for the rest of us who want an end to the endless wars of agression orchestrated by certain mad people in position of power in the west.
 
http://www.ihr.org/news/030923Zundel.shtml

An American writer, Bob Whitaker, stated a way to get around European anti-free speech laws.  "I don't know what is wrong with the Holocaust story.  All I know is there must be something wrong with it.  Through out history whenever there was a truth that by law could not be questioned there has always turned out to be something wrong with that "truth" in the end."

[alyosha]

Having seen the you tube video I'd say the girls should get six months actual time served, cleaning tolets in the womens prison.
Western liberals would be upset if religious conservatives staged an unwelcome protest in a gay bar.

[Misha]

Germany maybe?

I doubt it....

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/24/13454525-copycat-pussy-riot-protesters-could-face-3-year-sentence-in-germany?lite

The operative word is "could" face a 3-year sentence. Can you actually find a case in Germany where somebody was sentenced for 3 years?

[Misha]

Indeed, but as long as an appeal process and ultimately recourse to international human rights courts exists, justice will be done.

BC, appeals in Russia when the powers-that-be are involved are invariably decided in advance, I will cite Khodorovsky as an example, and recourse to international human rights courts invariably mean little as well when it comes to justice IMHO...

[Misha]

Olga,

You still can vote at your consolate? Did you do so the last election? Or is all this 'in lieu thereof'?

Remember BC that the Soviet Union also had elections, yet I would not characterize it as a democratic state respecting human rights. The ability to vote is not in itself an indicator of an open and democratic society.

[OlgaH]

Having seen the you tube video I'd say the girls should get six months actual time served, cleaning tolets in the womens prison.
Western liberals would be upset if religious conservatives staged an unwelcome protest in a gay bar.

"Orthodoxy or Death" you mean 

Deuteronomy 13
"If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to them or listen to them. Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them. You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people. Stone them to death..."

[BC]

Really? 

BC, what do you say about female genital mutilation? Should women suffer due to religious feelings? or women who denied education and elementary human rights due to religious feelings? protest against such traditions can insult the religion and religious feelings.

Maybe you should address your query to Monsignore Robert Kleine.

[BC]

The operative word is "could" face a 3-year sentence. Can you actually find a case in Germany where somebody was sentenced for 3 years?

Yes, could is operative. 

A pair took some nude photo's in a church and published them in the internet.  both were fined a month's wage.  The court said it was irrelevant that no one else was in the church at the time.

Yelling during a church service - 5 months prison

Having sex in church, policeman lost job and 8400 EUR fine

I'm sure there are more but this is what I could find in a few minutes.  German courts are pretty reasonable.  Under the circumstances, they will probably be heavily fined with possibly a suspended jail term.   Will be interesting to see what the sentence is.  Certainly not 2 years as the German Chancellor Merkel has voiced her opin against the pussy riot sentence in RU.  I think she is now in much the same spot that Putin is.

Did you know that in Germany and Switzerland there are laws against public dancing i.e. disco, clubs etc on certain religious holidays?

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanzverbot

Some club owners had to pay more than 10.000 EUR fines for Haloween parties that went past midnight.  1 Nov is a religious holiday.

Most Germans and Swiss also pay church taxes directly to the Government.  It is deducted from your paycheck unless you declare that you belong to no religion.

In Belgium and Greece, priests and bishops are paid by the State.

In Denmark and Sweden the State finances the Church out of tax revenue.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirchensteuer_(sonstige_Staaten)

I guess what I am trying to say is that State / Church co participation in financial matters and social conduct is not unusual and does not necessarily indicate or represent political oppression.

[BC]

Remember BC that the Soviet Union also had elections, yet I would not characterize it as a democratic state respecting human rights. The ability to vote is not in itself an indicator of an open and democratic society.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Russia

The rights and liberties of the citizens of the Russian Federation are granted by Chapter 2 of the Constitution adopted in 1993.[1]
Russia is the signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and has also ratified a number of other international human rights instruments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (fully) and the European Convention of Human Rights (with reservations). These international law instruments take precedence over national legislation according to Chapter 1, Article 15 of the Constitution.[1]
As a member of the Council of Europe Russia has international obligations related to the issue of human rights.[citation needed] In the introduction to the 2004 report on the situation in Russia, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, noted the "sweeping changes since the collapse of the Soviet Union" and reported that "the fledgling Russian democracy is still, of course, far from perfect, but its existence and its successes cannot be denied."[2]
In recent years Vladimir Lukin, current Ombudsman of the Russian Federation, has invariably characterized the human rights situation in Russia as unsatisfactory. However, according to Lukin, this is not discouraging, because building a lawful state and civil society in such a complex country as Russia is a hard and long process.[3]

I tend to agree with the above.  Change does take time, but I am not pessimistic and find that they signed up to international human right bodies as a bold move with a lot to 'chew on'...  Like digestion it's a process that takes time.

[BC]

BC, appeals in Russia when the powers-that-be are involved are invariably decided in advance, I will cite Khodorovsky as an example, and recourse to international human rights courts invariably mean little as well when it comes to justice IMHO...

Yes, the human rights courts have to do with human rights / political  and not civil / criminal matters of law.  Khodorovsky was awarded monetary damages by the ECHR.

http://jurist.org/paperchase/2011/05/echr-finds-conviction-of-khodorkovsky-not-politically-motivated-but-detention-violated-rights.php

ECHR finds insufficient proof Khodorkovsky prosecution was politically motivated

[JURIST] The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] on Tuesday found [judgment text] that former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky [defense website; JURIST news archive] did not prove his prosecution for tax evasion and fraud were politically motivated but that his detention violated human rights standards.

[Misha]

Yes, the human rights courts have to do with human rights / political  and not civil / criminal matters of law.  Khodorovsky was awarded monetary damages by the ECHR.

http://jurist.org/paperchase/2011/05/echr-finds-conviction-of-khodorkovsky-not-politically-motivated-but-detention-violated-rights.php

ECHR finds insufficient proof Khodorkovsky prosecution was politically motivated

It could not find absolute proof, but how exactly do you expect them to find absolute proof? A raid on Putin's office?

[BC]

It could not find absolute proof, but how exactly do you expect them to find absolute proof? A raid on Putin's office?

That's a universal problem in any court, except the court of opinion.

Obviously there was little or no substantiated evidence that his arrest was politically motivated.

I can scream injustice all day long, but without proof no court in the world will simply agree with me.

[Misha]

That's a universal problem in any court, except the court of opinion.

Obviously there was little or no substantiated evidence that his arrest was politically motivated.

I can scream injustice all day long, but without proof no court in the world will simply agree with me.

Yes, and it is the duty of the justic system to be able to subpoena the evidence to then be able to come to a fair judgement. Unfortunately, that is not possible in many/most countries and certainly not Russia when it involves the powers-that-be.

[Ranetka]

The verdict is available, the Criminal Code is available. People who can read English can go paragraph by paragraph and argue with the verdict with arguments based on law.


However this is not happening.


For some posters here even European Human Rights Court decision is not satisfactory. They know better, don't they.




ML, sorry I can not be bothered to go through all the posts either.

[Fashionista]

I can't be bothered discussing this nonsense and media deflection either. We have much bigger problems than the freedom to high-kick in a church right here in Quebec, much-much bigger. I am supposed to go vote in a week, my husband and I discussed it, and we decided not to go. No reasonable person in his right mind can possibly choose between these crooks and clowns.

[BC]

Yes, and it is the duty of the justic system to be able to subpoena the evidence to then be able to come to a fair judgement. Unfortunately, that is not possible in many/most countries and certainly not Russia when it involves the powers-that-be.

I can only refer you to their decision.  Everything known is within.

[BC]

I can't be bothered discussing this nonsense and media deflection either. We have much bigger problems than the freedom to high-kick in a church right here in Quebec, much-much bigger. I am supposed to go vote in a week, my husband and I discussed it, and we decided not to go. No reasonable person in his right mind can possibly choose between these crooks and clowns.

Can you write in your choice?  Heck, vote for yourselves if you can..

[Fashionista]

Can you write in your choice?  Heck, vote for yourselves if you can..

 
 
Interesting suggestion, I'll find out...

[OlgaH]

Human Rights Watch.

We Were There: Pussy Riot Verdict
The Role the Judge Believes Feminism Played
August 23, 2012

Rachel Denber is the deputy director of the Europe and Central Asia Division 

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/08/23/we-were-there-pussy-riot-verdict


We stood on the steps inside the Moscow courthouse – the nearby courtroom was jam-packed -- listening as the judge read into a microphone her guilty verdict against three members of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot.

I felt a weight in my chest at the pronouncement. Having monitored human rights in Russia for more than 20 years, I had never seen this type of media attention, or such an outpouring of public support, for a political case. But neither did I ever expect the women to be acquitted.

As the judge continued speaking, I wondered how the hundreds of protesters a block away fared as they chanted “For shame!” at the verdict’s pronouncement. We had already watched police haul off two men who had donned ski masks – Pussy Riot’s trademark – in solidarity with the group.

It had taken hours for my colleagues and me to push and squeeze our way past a police barricade and hundreds of journalists to be here. I felt lucky to find a spot where I could lean against the wall. Russian verdicts – read aloud by judges – can be lengthy; this one would last nearly 3 hours.

What this case said about the state of the rule of law and freedom of expression in Russia was disturbing – as was what the judge said about the role she believed feminism played in the case.

As the judge droned on monotonously, I thought about the failed logic behind the verdict. How does pulling a political stunt critical of the Russian Orthodox Church’s support for President Vladimir Putin, rise to the level of a hate crime – even if it was in a venerated cathedral. The church antics surely offended many. But the women could have been slapped with a misdemeanor, a penalty befitting the offense. Instead, the government chose to charge them with a felony, carrying prison time.

In recent years, Russia has cracked down on freedom of speech. True, it has been incredibly difficult to pin down any involvement of officials in the beatings and murders of investigative journalists and human rights activists. But while the government allows civil society groups to exist, it also marginalizes, discredits, and even threatens them. The Pussy Riot case was a move designed to scare other critics into silence.

Shockingly, the judge found “nothing political” about Pussy Riot’s action. Politics was, after all, the core of the women’s message.

Instead, the judge argued that feminism, ultimately, was at the core of the “religious hatred” charge.

“Feminism is not a violation of the law and is not a crime,” Judge Syrova said. “But the ideas of feminism are not in line with a number of religions, including Russian Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Islam. Although feminism is not a religious precept, its proponents cross the line into the sphere of decency and morals.”

And asserting “the superiority of one ideology” at the expense of another, she said, can be grounds for enmity, hatred, and conflict.  In other words, the women’s assertion of feminist ideals was the core of the problem – never mind that they were speaking out against the cronyism between the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church.

And, of course, that they chose a church as their venue, used swear words, dressed inappropriately, and the like.

At the same time, it’s easy to argue that feminism is political – that women are fighting for an equal voice and their fair share of power in their countries, in their parliaments, and in the work place.

The judge unnerved me again when she stated that psychiatric exams found all three women were of sound mind, but that they each had “mild personality disorders” that predisposed them to “an exaggerated sense of self,” “stubborn adherence to opinions,” and other traits of defiance.

At least this argument sounded familiar – a leaf from the old Soviet handbook: dissent defined as a mild mental disorder. It’s also a tried and true tactic for discrediting outspoken women.

The judge sprinted toward the end of her verdict. Pussy Riot, she said, would spend two years in prison. Not surprising, but still shocking.

The judge finished reading, and the police ushered those of us waiting on the staircase into the courtroom, 10 at a time. Each group had about two minutes – enough time to see the three convicted members of Pussy Riot handcuffed inside a glass cage with bars on the top and to snap the obligatory photo. It felt profoundly bizarre – as if these women were a museum exhibit, designed to illustrate the surreal state of justice in Russia when it involves criticizing the Kremlin or Putin.