Pussy Riot got served a two year sentence for jumping into a Church in Russia and chanted "Virgin Mary, Mother Of God, put Putin away". Yesterday I predicted two years or less.Poor Pussy Riot and stupid, stupid Putin. the last thing he needed was to jail three 20 something women, two who jave children. It is like putting a huge Billboard outside the country saying: "No Freedom Here". Why would Putin let them do that? He should absolutely have ceased and deceased it.
One reason might well be that Putin is feeling a little fragile and can't take the polemical hits, but really, I don't believe that for an instant. Anybody who doesn't see Russia as a dictatorship simply hasn't been paying attention. In Russia, Putin is da man. Given that, he can dole out freedom of speech the way the US do, safe in the knowledge that they are safe in the knowledge.
By beating up on young women women and not allowing them to be with their children, the Russian government are the worst sort of paranoid bootstomping bullies. Remember when the british government set up Mick Jagger and Keith Richards? They looked like raving maniacs and had to release them immediately. Putin works the world stage and he will not even be able to pretend to be on a social footing with the States till he releases Pussy Riot's three members. Reuters reported:
A judge sentenced three members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot to two years jail on Friday for staging a protest against President Vladimir Putin in a church, an act the judge called "blasphemous".
Supporters of the women say their case has put Putin's tolerance of dissent on trial. Several opposition figures were detained outside the courtroom while protesting in support of the women.