The members of an all-female Russian activist punk band are on trial for their guerrilla performance of a protest song titled  ”Virgin Mary, Redeem Us of Putin,” in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior on February 21 of this year. Three members of the group, which is called Pussy Riot, were arrested in March.

Things have gotten very real over the last five months. The band members, one of whom is a young mother, could be sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of  ”hooliganism” and “inciting religious hatred.” They have pled not guilty. Amnesty International has organized a petition calling for their release.

In the midst of all this, Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has chosen to release a manifesto in order to clarify the group’s position. This manifesto explains that, for one thing, the case against them is a pile of BS, and that, for another thing, they hold no hatred toward Orthodox Christianity, as the prosecution insists:

I would like to emphasize the fact that, while at the Cathedral, we did not utter any insulting words towards the church, the Christians, and the God. The words we spoke and our entire punk performance aimed to express our disapproval of a specific political event: the patriarch’s support of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, who took an authoritarian and antifeminist course. Our performance contained no aggression towards the audience, but only a desperate desire to change the political situation in Russia for the better.

Read the whole manifesto at Freepussyriot.org

Follow the case: @freepussyriot

Via Death + Taxes