Samutsevich's sentence was replaced with a suspended sentence

On October 10, 2012, the Moscow City Court considered a cassation appeal against the sentence of the members of the Pussy Riot group under Part 2 of Art. 213 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy and motivated by hatred). As a result of the consideration, the court replaced the sentence of Ekaterina Samutsevich to two years of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of two years. The sentences of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina were left unchanged - two years in prison in a general regime colony.

The court agreed with the position of Samutsevich’snew lawyer, Irina Khrunova, who argued in addition to the complaint against the verdict that the crime charged against her client cannot be considered completed. Samutsevich was going to take part in the action, stepped over the fence, put on a balaclava and took out a guitar, after which she was taken out of the temple. She did not “ pray, did not jump, did not shout obscenities that insult believers ,” the lawyer argued.

Lawyers for Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina announced their intention to appeal the verdict to the supervisory authority.

The court also denied the defense of the Pussy Riot members a request to conduct a second psychological and linguistic examination of the lyrics of the song, on the basis of which the verdict was made.

On October 11, 2012, judges of the Moscow City Court clarified their position when considering a complaint against Pussy Riot’s sentence: Samutsevich’s sentence was changed to suspended due to her insignificant role in the “punk prayer.” However, since she was unable to participate in the action for reasons beyond her control and did not deny her intentions, it was impossible to justify her.

Sources

• The court replaced Samutsevich’s sentence with a suspended one, and Tolokonnikova and Alekhina’s sentence was upheld // Gazeta.ru. 2012. October 10.
• Kornya Anastasia. Samutsevich from Pussy Riot changed lawyers due to a new defense strategy // Vedomosti. 2012. October 10.
• Samutsevich was given a suspended sentence due to an insignificant role in the “punk prayer” - judges // RAPSI. 2012. October 11.