US band makes Pussy Riot’s 'punk prayer' cover

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Published time: June 21, 2012 11:27
Edited time: July 05, 2012 16:43

American punk band Anti-Flag has recorded a cover version of the notorious Pussy Riot song "Virgin Mary, redeem us of Putin,” which was performed in Russia’s main church by the five masked girls in February.

­The cover version of the anti-Putin song is available online.

The US band from Pittsburgh have issued a statement on their website in support of the “three members of [punk-rock] community,” Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alehina and Ekaterina Samutsevich who are charged with hooliganism for their ‘performance’ inside Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral.

“The Russian authority’s actions against Pussy Riot are clearly an attack on freedom of thought, opinion and artistic expression which must be protected for any society to be free. Anti-Flag calls for the immediate release of Pussy Riot and all prisoners of conscience,” the message on the website says.

On June 20 the Moscow Tagansky Court extended the girls’ detention until July 24. The three have already spent over three months in prison.

Since March when the three girls were arrested Pussy Riot members have received widespread support at home and outside Russia. The human rights organization Amnesty International named the girls “prisoners of conscience.”

Anti-Flag are known to be involved with political activism throughout their musical career which started in the late 1980s. They have been performed at various protest actions, including an acoustic set at the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in New York City in October 2011.