Pussy Riot ask for the President’s help

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Published time: April 27, 2012 14:05
Edited time: July 05, 2012 16:45

The members of the punk band Pussy Riot who are being held in jail have sent a letter to the Russian President asking for help. The group members were detained after performing a lewd song inside Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral.

­In the letter they claim their constitutional rights are being violated, the girls’ lawyer said on Friday. The President’s Administration has confirmed that they’ve received the letter.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alehina addressed President Dmitry Medvedev as the guarantor of the Constitution with a request to commission the Prosecutor General's Office to check the legality of the criminal case against them.

In his interview with Russian TV channels on Thursday the President refused to comment on the case, having mentioned that he doesn’t want to interfere with justice. 

"As the president, I will not comment on the judicial aspects of the case because the investigation is still underway, and I have always avoided making judicial comments on any case until there is a verdict," Medvedev said.

Tolokonnikova and Alehina were arrested on March 4, and a third girl Ekaterina Samutsevich was detained on March 15. A Moscow court ordered to prolong their detention until June 24. The girls are being charged with hooliganism after they rushed into Russia’s major place of worship and performed, what they call, a ‘punk anthem’.  If the girls are found guilty they could face up to seven years in jail.

On April 29 Pussy Riot supporters are planning to hold an ‘anti-Putin prayer’ in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow. Orthodox Church-goers say they plan to prevent it happening.