Post date: Aug 17, 2012 4:14:40 PM
MOSCOW, RUSSIA (AUGUST 17, 2012) (REUTERS) - Lawyers for anti-Kremlin punk band Pussy Riot on Friday (August 17) said their defendants' jail sentence was decided by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Pussy Riot lawyers come out of courthouse to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for their defendants' jail sentence.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for performing a "punk prayer" in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral and sentenced to two years in prison.
"This verdict is absolutely unlawful. Even out of what's been read by Judge Syrova we can make the first approximate conclusions, though we do not have a document in writing yet. This very sentence in its arguments contains serious violations," defence lawyer Mark Feigin told journalists outside Moscow's Khamovnichesky courthouse.
"This verdict was decided not in this courthouse, not by Judge Syrova, but was decided from (authorities) above. This verdict is the result of a political decision made in the Kremlin by Vladimir Putin. This decision is his only, which he thinks is fair. His statements, his pointless statements that the court may hand down a not so harsh punishment resulted in sentencing innocent people to two years in prison," Feigin added.
The trial is widely seen as a test of Putin's tolerance of dissent.
"We think the trial was a farce, and the verdict is a culmination of this farce. Without any doubt, it is a reflection of the political situation in Russia. Disregard for the law, disregard for justice has become a norm, while this trial is just a reflection of this," Feigin said.
The lawyer added that his defendants were in danger.
"Every one of our three defendants is now in danger. Therefore, prison is a certain answer, a certain brutal answer from the authorities to the invective on February 21 in Christ the Saviour cathedral: you want and demand political freedoms, you will get violence and possible death," Feigin said.
The defendants said they were protesting against close ties between Putin and the Russian Orthodox church and did not intend to offend believers, but the judge rejected those arguments.
Prosecutors had requested three-year sentences. The two-year sentences include the nearly six months served since the defendants were jailed following the Feb. 21 protest.