The Bad Penny (beta)

Five members of exiled feminist protest punk-rockers Pussy Riot are facing lengthy prison sentences after a Moscow court ruled them guilty for staging anti-war performances that criticized Russia’s military actions, the performance-art group’s website, Mediazona, reported Wednesday.

Moscow’s Basmanny District Court handed down the ruling in absentia for Maria Alyokhina, Diana Burkot, Taso Pletner, Olga Borisova and Alina Petrova, who could face eight to 13 years apiece in prison, according to the website.

Pussy Riot allegedly broke Russian law, the court ruled, by spreading “false information” about the Russian military via their music video “Mama, Don’t Watch TV,” which premiered in December 2022. The reported punishment also stemmed from the group’s show in Munich, Germany, in April 2024, during which they criticized President Vladimir Putin.

[Go here to watch the video, which YouTube will not allow to be embedded into this post due to “age restrictions.]

The five members of the group claim the charges are erroneous because of political motivations that they say spurred the trial and sentences, which they face if extradited to their homeland.

The Mediazone report additionally noted that another founding member of Pussy Riot, Nadya Tolokonnikova, was arrested in absentia in late 2023 and added to Russia’s International Wanted list. The following April, Pussy Riot’s Petya Verzilov was reportedly sentenced in absentia to eight years and four months, added to a terrorist list in December 2024.

Burkot released an extensive statement Wednesday responding to the Moscow court’s decision.

“Today, a Russian court sentenced me to eight years in a penal col ony under the so-called ‘law on fakes about the army.’ … It sounds like a joke,” Burkot began. “This video is our anti-war statement. I am the author of the music, I perform the ‘slogans-chants,’ I am acting in the video, and I also directed the editing. So, I stand by every single word, and my anti-war stance is clear.

She continued: “The paradox is that rapists and murderers in Russia get [sentenced to] three to four years, sometimes spending less than a year in prison before signing a military contract, killing Ukrainians and then they return freely into society, with PTSD, and may end up back in prison for yet another killing. Is this cycle of violence the new norm in Russia? Meanwhile, activists receive monstrous sentences for their opinions. Eight years for freedom of speech.”

Burkot went further on to explain that “Freedom of speech or freedom of religion — as if such concepts don’t exist in Russia any more. Maybe I am an Atheist. In my view, that’s better than believing [Russian high official] Patriarch Kirill — yet another tyrant at the top of the Russian Orthodox Church, who now blesses weapons and soldiers for the war in Ukraine. The full-scale war against Ukraine has been going on for more than three years. And I continue to believe: Ukraine must win, and Putin must face trial in The Hague.”

Her statement concluded: “The Russian government is a textbook example of patriarchy — the worst kind of abuser: a tyrant, a narcissist, a gaslighter, a toxic manipulator who lives off the destruction of others’ will. I sincerely and passionately wish every person in this world to use their voice. Activists are not some kind of “heroes” with criminal cases. Every single person matters. The collective matters. Activism now is needed like daily practice, because only together can we resist and overcome the crisis of democracy. Fortunately, they have no access to my physical body.  And even if I were in Russia, I would say the same thing: Go fuck yourself.”

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This entry was posted on 09/15/2025 at 11:36 am and is filed under Features, News, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags On Tyranny, Pussy Riot. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.