- Title: RUSSIA: Judge continues hearing despite Pussy Riot member's absence
- Date: 23rd May 2013
- Summary: BEREZNIKI, RUSSIA (MAY 23, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PETER VERZILOV, HUSBAND OF JAILED PUSSY RIOT BAND MEMBER NADEZHDA TOLOKONNIKOVA, HOLDING SIGN READING 'GET MASHA TO COURT' RUSSIAN FLAG ON BUILDING PEOPLE IN COURT STANDING, THEN SITTING AS JUDGE ENTERS EMPTY CHAIR AND DESK, ABSENT OF PUSSY RIOT BAND MEMBER MARIA ALYOKHINA'S LAWYER SCREEN SHOWING PRISON OFFICIAL EXPLAIN
- Embargoed: 7th June 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Russian Federation
- Country: Russia
- Reuters ID: LVA9AF96E35UFQVYHHWO9VCPKEYL
- Story Text: A Russian court on Thursday (May 23) continued a parole hearing for Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina, despite her absence after she declared a hunger strike, following her barring from a parole hearing.
Alyokhina and bandmate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova are serving two-year prison terms for bursting into Moscow's main Russian Orthodox cathedral in February 2012 and singing a profanity-laced "punk prayer" urging the Virgin Mary: "Throw Putin out!"
The judge presiding over the case appeared puzzled after a prison guard appeared on screen via video link from the penal colony, announcing Alyokhina's refusal to take part in the proceedings.
"She (Alyokhina) didn't appear on the video link," Russian judge Mikhail Chagalov said.
Alyokhina's supporters, including her mother, and the husband of her fellow jailed bandmate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were also in Berezniki, the Ural Mountains town more than 1,000 km (620 miles) northeast of Moscow where she is serving her sentence.
"Yesterday Alyokhina clearly and distinctly said that she forbid any defence representative to take part in the court hearing as a sign of protest against the refusal to bring her to court," Tolokonnikova's husband, Verzilov said.
"Masha announced a long time ago that she is insisting on taking part in person (in the court hearing) - I think her application was sent a week in advance, both to the Perm court and the prosecutor's office - that she insists on her personal participation at court and could go as far as declare a hunger strike. Well, this is exactly what they're doing now," Alyokhina's mother Natalia Bakhenova said.
Alyokhina's lawyer, whom Alyokhina ordered on Wednesday (May 22) to quit the proceedings, said the court would have difficulty continuing with the case.
"I don't know on what basis the judge is going to start - even with any other (lawyer), like a duty lawer, which is called up by the court. Because the first step that this lawyer has to take is to meet with the client and learn his position. Even a lawyer appointed by the state has to go to the penal colony and get the answer to this question. And Masha will give him the exact same answer that she gave us, 'I don't need your assistance in this court hearing," Alyokhina's lawyer Irina Khrunova said.
Alyokhina, 24, and two of her bandmates were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred last August after a trial seen by Putin's opponents as part of a clampdown on dissent during a third term in power he began in May 2012.
Western governments and many entertainers, including Madonna, said the sentence was disproportionate but Putin, a former KGB spy who has cultivated close ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, said the state needed to protect the faithful.
One of the three women jailed, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was freed last October when a judge suspended her sentence on appeal after she argued she had been prevented from taking part in the protest because a guard seized her.
Tolokonnikova, 23, was denied parole last month and both she and Alyokhina have had requests for their sentences deferred until their young children are older rejected by courts. They are due for release next March. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None