The trial of Pussy Riot. The first day

Today is the first day of the judicial consideration on the merits of the case of the arrested members of the Pussy Riot group. The meeting is held in the Khamovniki Court of Moscow, in the same hall where Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Plato Lebedev was judged. It is expected that the Khamovnican court will consider the scandalous case within three weeks and in mid -August will announce the verdict. The following court hearings will be held on July 31, August 2 and 3.

The lawyers of the accused Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich made a petition for calling independent culturalists, artists, religious scholars, journalists and bloggers who were present during the incident in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, as well as Patriarch Kirill. Judge Marina Syrova refused a petition.

The defendants did not admit their guilt. “Our non -recognition of guilt does not mean that we are not ready to explain our actions and do not recognize our mistakes. The mistake is that we brought the musical genre developed to the temple, and if someone is offended, then I am ready to admit that we made an ethical mistake, ”Tolokonnikova wrote in her appeal to the court. “We did not think that the use of a salt as scenes would cause moral suffering to someone, since we did not know the church rules so well. But for 5 Masyans of prison we learned them! I apologize if I offended someone, ”said Alekhina.

In their appeals, the accused completely rejected the motive for the excitement of religious hatred with their act and emphasized that they wanted to speak about the draft of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Cyril to vote in the presidential election for Vladimir Putin. They consider their act an artistic action and ask to qualify it as an administrative offense.

The lawyers of the accused called the accusations by absurd, but the indictment, from their point of view - not a legal document, but rather a literary work.

After the break, the court will resume the hearings, witnesses will be questioned. A direct broadcast from the courtroom in this regard is terminated.

Photo: From the page Rustem Adagamov