I’ve just got back from spending two days in Moscow observing the Pussy Riot trial and meeting some of the activists and lawyers involved in the Free Pussy Riot campaign. The Russian legal system, I now know, is rather strange and unpredictable, but I think yesterday saw the end of the trial. We had closing speeches from the prosecuting lawyer, the ‘victims” lawyers (i.e. those who complained about the performance and claim to be insulted or traumatised by it), and the defence, plus final speeches from the three defendants, Nadya, Masha and Katya. The court resumes at 11.30am on Wednesday (8.30am UK time) when we may or may not have a verdict.
As ever, it’s frustrating that public awareness and political momentum only comes to a head when it’s almost too late. I’d asked a couple of parliamentary questions about it, and the minister for Europe confirmed that the UK was concerned about the case, was critical of the way it was being conducted, and was going to raise it at the next Human Rights dialogue with Russia, on July 13th. But apart from that, my tweets and retweets seemed to be ignored, and only the music blogs – which is where I first heard about the case – were taking any interest.
Once the trial had got underway, however, press attention increased exponentially, and there have been some excellent articles published during the last week or so. I think the problem at first was that, in the UK, people simply didn’t take it seriously. It was just a silly stunt, by a band with a silly name. I don’t think people realised the wider significance of what the arrests said about who wields power in Russia, and what kind of society it is. “They violated the traditions of our country” said one lawyer. Another – the female lawyer for the victims – seemed to imply that not being an orthodox Christian was in itself a good enough reason for sending someone to jail, and then went on to describe feminism as “a mortal sin”. It’s clear from watching the trial that Pussy Riot are facing jail sentences because of who they are, what they stand for, what they believe in – not because of what they did.
I’ve been asked by many people what would have been the response if Pussy Riot had pulled this stunt in St Paul’s instead. As people have reminded me, Peter Tatchell was charged with a public order offence after he stormed the pulpit in the middle of a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury and ended up with an £18 fine. Some have pointed to the draconian sentences handed out to last year’s rioters – which I criticised at the time – but I don’t think that bears direct comparison. Yes, the aftermath of the riots was about the powers that be wanting to show themselves to be tough, and there was a lot of politics behind it, but the rioters had committed actual criminal offences. Pussy Riot have been prosecuted under an ancient ecclesiastical law that hasn’t been invoked for centuries, because the authorities wanted to find them guilty of something, and something that carried a harsh – maximum seven years – sentence too.
Plenty has been written elsewhere about the shortcomings in the trial process and the dubious nature of the charges brought. The thing that struck me most was how one-sided the evidence was. The defence simply weren’t allowed to call witnesses, other than a couple of character witnesses, and weren’t able to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses/ victims properly either, with the judge either rushing them through it or ruling their questions inadmissible.
On the first day, I was in court, which was the sixth day of the trial, it was mostly about ‘petitions’ being presented by the defence lawyers and the women – petitions as in requests, for example, to be able to call expert witnesses. The judge dismissed this, saying they’d had plenty of time to call such witnesses already, even though she’d not allowed them to call anyone when they’d tried before!
Apart from the concerns about trumped up charges and justice not being done in the courtroom, there is also concern about the way the women are being treated, The women were being kept in a jail a couple of hours drive – in good traffic – from the court. On Monday they arrived at court at 8am although the hearing didn’t actually start till gone 10.45, and spent the rest of the day in their glass box in court or in the holding cells on the floor above. The day’s hearing finished about 9.30-ish, so that would have meant gerting back to the prison by midnight. They complained in court that they weren’t being fed during the day, were only getting two-three hours sleep a night, and weren’t getting time to speak to their lawyers.
So what happens now? Well, a verdict is expected in the next day or so. The public and political response will, I suppose, depend on the severity of the sentence. The lawyers have said they will appeal, possibly taking it to the European Court of Human Rights. The activists I met are well aware of the risks they face in speaking out, but are determined to keep up the campaign. They say that a certain level of political activism is tolerated, but once you’re on the authorities radar, you’d better be careful.
This is about much more than three young women pulling a silly stunt in a cathedral and getting into more trouble than they bargained for. Let’s hope they’re released by the court tomorrow, but if not, let’s be prepared to fight for them.
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