Settlement period

Punch group participants Pussy Riot received "exactly what they counted on." This was announced at a meeting with journalists of leading television channels by President Dmitry Medvedev. "As the president, I will not comment on this case before the conviction or justifying sentence. If we talk about my position as a church person, I will say very carefully not to offend anyone. In my opinion, the participants in what was done received exactly what they were counting on," Medvedev said. To the clarifying question whether he has in mind the imprisonment, Medvedov said: "Popularity."

Earlier it became known that the investigative examination did not find the motives of hatred and enmity in the actions of the Punk-Molebne participants in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. This was reported in her microblog by lawyer Violett Volkov. This means the lack of corpus delicti under Article 213 of the Criminal Code ("hooliganism"), Volkova writes. Experts confirmed only a possible insult to the feelings of believers, which is not a criminal offense.

Experts conducted a psychological and linguistic analysis of the punk-summer "Theotokos, Putin of the run" and came to the conclusion that its participants did not call for any illegal actions or were guided by the motives of hatred and enmity to social groups.

The results of the examination became known to investigators on April 2, Volkova told the Moscow Komsomolets. "It is curious that the investigation was known about the expert opinion before extending the deadline for the arrest of girls, but the materials of the examination were not attached to the case in the court to extend (arrest. - Ed.). All this may lead to official liability for the investigative group," Volkova said.

On April 19, the court granted the investigation to extend the arrest of three suspect participants in the Pussy Riot group until June 24. The defense was acquainted with the results of the examination on April 24. Completely the conclusions of the examination will be made public after the completion of the preliminary investigation, presumably in May.

Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich have been under arrest from March 3. No investigative actions have been carried out with them.

The presenter investigator Artem Ranchenkov in an interview with Russia called Punk-Moleben a crime against the soul and morality. According to him, the reaction on the Internet confirms the public danger of the act of Pussy Riot participants-they "provoke the desire to deal with someone with someone." The danger of reprisals with the under investigation was one of the main arguments in favor of extending their detention.

In early April, the "International Amnesty" recognized Alekhin, Tolokonnikov and Samutsevich with the prisoners of conscience. Russian Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov condemned this decision. "It turns out that I have the right to insult, shock and humiliate the dignity of other people," the minister said. As a "practitioner Christian" he expressed the indignation of a punk young. At the same time, Konovalov does not believe that his participants "deserve severe punishment." “They just deserve punishment, a criminal record, probably, yes. But it is unlikely to be a real imprisonment,” the head of the Ministry of Justice said.