Limit on lawlessness

The Tagansky court of Moscow limited until July 9 the deadline for familiarizing themselves with the case to all three participants in the Pussy Riot punk group, RIA Novosti reports. Immediately after the court decision was made, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Ekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alekhina announced a hunger strike (

Video Andrei Novichkov from the courtroom:

Lawyer Alekhina Nikolai Polozov told the judge. "I declare a challenge to the presiding judge in the case, since two similar decisions were previously made, which allows you to think that it is biased and indirectly may be interested in it," he said. Judge Natalya Konovalova considered this statement unreasonable and rejected it.

Toloconnikova’s lawyer Violett Volkov said that they would necessarily appeal the decision to limit the deadline. The lawyers of the group members previously filed a complaint with the Prosecutor General’s Office to restrict the deadlines for familiarization with the case materials. "If the court agrees with the application of the investigation, then we will only be allocated to familiarize yourself with one sheet of the case. This is unrealistic and impossible," Volkova said.

She noted that familiarization with the materials is also complicated by the inability to copy documents, in connection with which lawyers have to make extracts. “If we are limited to familiarization until July 9, we will not be able to prepare for the court. In this regard, we ask the Prosecutor General to stop violation of the law, according to which we have the right to fully familiarize ourselves with all the documents,” Volkova explained.

On Wednesday, 12 people were detained near the Pussy Riot in support of Pussy Riot. Among them are three men who installed a cage and locked them from the inside. The artist, a participant in the “Occupation of the Court” campaign and the priest offer “change them places” with Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich. “If this court needs to be condemned by the innocent, then let us be better judged. We are ready to sit in the cage of the Tagan court instead of girls who should be released,” the rally participants said. Police officers after some time opened the cage and detained the protesters.

Activists who whistled in whistles and scattered confetti are also detained. The detainees were charged with a violation of the established procedure for the organization or holding a meeting in the Taganskoye police department. Under the new law on rallies, they face a fine of up to 30 thousand rubles or mandatory work for up to 50 hours.

According to the correspondent of the faces, the court gathered about a hundred supporters of Pussy Riot, and again skirmishes with opponents of the group. The young Muscovite Tatyana Romanov, who was hit by the Orthodox activist Sergei Ekimov, was taken to the ambulance, in her hospital was diagnosed with a bruise and subluxation of the jaw, and later a concussion. Romanova wrote a statement to the police.

In the morning, the police strengthened security measures at the Tagansky court. Dozens of police officers were on duty near the building, there were several police buses. In addition, in the morning cars parked near the court were evacuated.

On Wednesday, Senator Lyudmila Narusova spoke in support of Pussy Riot participants. According to her, Pussy Riot "is obvious to the political background." The point is not in the very act of the Punk-Molebna participants, but in its contents, Narusova said in an interview with Echo of Moscow. “The case is in content,” the senator emphasized. “If these girls turned to the Virgin with a request to save France from Sarkozy, the reaction would be different,” said Narusova. The participants of Punk -Molebna in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior Narusov called "fools", "lost stupid girls", and their act is "disgusting." At the same time, we are talking exclusively about an administrative offense, the senator emphasized. She expressed her readiness to sign a letter from cultural figures demanding that the participants of the punk group are requested.

According to Narisova, the criminal prosecution of Pussy Riot participants began not on Putin’s command, but on the initiative of people in his environment. In the scandals around Patriarch Kirill, his environment is also to blame, Narusova believes. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin and church figures close to him play the role of filtering information, ”said Narusova. “The helpful fool is more dangerous than the enemy,” she emphasized in this regard.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Human Rights Vladimir Lukin said that Pussy Riot participants must be released from custody as soon as possible. Lukin said that the Pussy Riot case was discussed at his meeting with the president on June 27. "My position is based on the fact that, firstly, these young women, of course, acted very wrongly, shocking, and of course they do not cause me any sympathy in this sense. Secondly, this is absolutely not criminal in the secular state, this is an administrative case in the best case," the Ombudsman said on Saturday. The fact that the participants of the February Punk-Molebne in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior are still under arrest, according to Lukin, "absolutely does not comply with our law." "Therefore, they need to be released. If there is an occasion to judge them - let them judge, but my opinion: this is an administrative case that deserves censure, of course, but nothing more," the Ombudsman believes.

The letter of a hundred cultural figures in defense of Pussy Riot signed more than 30 thousand people on the Internet. Actress Chulpan Khamatova and the editor -in -chief of Novaya Gazeta Dmitry Muratov acted as guarantors for Pussy Riot participants. On July 9, a decision will be appealed in the Moscow City Court to extend his arrest until July 24.

Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich have been in custody since the beginning of March. They are accused of hooliganism, committed by an organized group of persons by prior conspiracy based on religious hatred (part 2 of Article 213 of the Criminal Code), they face up to seven years in prison.

Photo by Nicky Maximyuk and Evgenia Mikheeva