Russian culture activists stand for defense of punk-band Pussy Riot
Dozens of celebrities signed the open letter in their support.
The text of the letter has been published by "Moskovskiy Komsomolets" and the radio "Moscow Echo". Among the signers there are Mikhail Zhvanetskiy, Mark Zakharov, Sergey Yurskiy, Valeriy Meladze, Lyova B-2, Boris Grebenschikov, Roma Zver, Diana Arbenina, Gleb Samoylov, Victor Shenderovich, Oleg Basilashvili and others.
In the letter, which has been passed to the Moscow City Court and the Supreme Court, it is stated that the action of the Pussy Riot participants was not a crime and their criminal persecution "discredits the Russian court system and makes people distrust the state institutions on the whole". The authors of the letter insist that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Katerina Samutsevich should be released as they do not threat the society. The singers think that the criminal case against them should be re-qualified into an administrative one.
Photo — podelis.org
