Post date: Sep 30, 2012 10:34:49 PM
MOSCOW, RUSSIA (SEPTEMBER 30, 2012) (REUTERS) - The Russian Orthodox Church called on Sunday (September 30) for members of the Pussy Riot punk band to repent, on the eve of an appeal court ruling on their two-year sentences for performing an anti-Kremlin song in Moscow's main cathedral.
Church calls for repentance of the members of Pussy Riot punk band, jailed for performing an anti-Kremlin song on the altar Moscow's main cathedral in February, Pussy Riot lawyers say they will not admit guilt, and the change of the verdict is unlikely.
The three performers of the "punk prayer" criticising President Vladimir Putin's close ties with the Russian Orthodox Church were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" by a district court on Aug. 17.
Vladimir Legoida, a senior church spokesman, said their act "must not remain unpunished whatever the justification," but that any repentance, if expressed, should be taken into account.
"The church sincerely wishes for the repentance of those who desecrated a holy place, certainly it would benefit their souls," Legoida said in an official address.
"If any words of the convicts indicate repentance, a reframing of the deed, we would wish that they are not left unnoticed and those who violated the law get a chance to mend their ways."
A church statement after the August verdict indicated that the clergy would back a pardon or a reduced sentence, but that would have required Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, to admit their guilt, something their lawyers say they will not do.
The trio's legal team and relatives hold out little hope that the sentences - which they believe are excessively harsh - will be quashed or reduced at the hearing scheduled for Monday, whether they repent or not.
"I think that decisions on such widely-publicized political cases are being made not in the courtroom but in totally different places. That's why the court's decision was pre-determined long time ago and any meddling of the Russian Orthodox Church can not change it despite any repentance the church is calling for. If they (convicts) even make a repentance - which is simply unlikely and it will in fact never happen as far as I can judge on the mood of the convicts - it will no way have any influence," Stanislav Samutsevich, father of one of the jailed women, told Reuters.
The fact the church is calling for that was nothing but a public relations move to sustain their reputation in the eyes of the public, as the church says it is separate from the state, Samutsevich said
One of the punk band lawyers, Mark Feigin, said on Sunday that if the church meant repentance in the sense of a crime, their clients wouldn't admit guilt.
"I think that tomorrow we shouldn't hope for a radical change of the verdict made by the first instance court, because it is a question of guilt and punishment, and if they find our defendants guilty again, which is most likely, and the sentence is not changed in this regard, we will then hope for some change of the punishment for our defendants, perhaps some slight or radical softening of the sentence, depending on what we will be able to achieve in the court," Feigin told Reuters.
Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has called Putin's 12-year rule a "miracle of God" and backed his presidential election campaign this year.
Kirill dismissed criticism of his backing for the Kremlin on Friday, telling students that close ties between the church and state helped protect and develop society.
The trial exposed Putin to international criticism because of doubts over the independence of the judiciary, and global celebrities including British musician Paul McCartney and U.S. pop singer Madonna called for leniency