Pussy Riot appealed to the European Court of Human Rights

Members of the Pussy Riot group Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich, convicted for the action in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, sent a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The authors of the complaint, lawyers Yonko Grozev and Irina Khrunova, argue that the Khamovnichesky court, on August 17, 2012, sentencing three members of a punk band to two years in prison for a “punk prayer” in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, violated several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights. We are talking about Art. 10 (freedom of speech), art. 5 (right to freedom and personal security), Art. 3 (prohibition of torture) and art. 6 (right to a fair trial).
Lawyers insist that the group’s action was not aimed at offending the feelings of believers, but was of a political nature and was caused by Patriarch Kirill’s public support for presidential candidate Vladimir Putin on February 1, 2012.
The authors of the complaint refer to the case “Richard Handside v. Great Britain”, during which in 1976 the ECHR formulated the basic principles of Art. 10: Authorities in democratic states have a duty to protect freedom of expression, even of “shocking, disturbing or disturbing ideas.”
The way the trial against the group members was conducted also caused numerous complaints from lawyers.
According to the Kommersant newspaper, in December 2012, the European Court showed particular interest in the case of the punk band, although thousands of applications from the Russian Federation continue to be received from Strasbourg from those wishing to sue the state, which is why Russia is the leader in the number of complaints filed. Lawyer Irina Khrunova, who sent a preliminary complaint to Strasbourg on behalf of the members of the punk band, received a letter in which she was asked to submit additional documents as soon as possible, which indicates the extreme interest of the court in a speedy consideration of the Pussy Riot case.