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THE TWO MEMBERS of Russian punk group Pussy Riot who were released from prison colonies late last year said they had both been arrested today in downtown Sochi during the Olympic Games.
This is the first time that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina have been detained by police after their release in December on amnesty from their prison sentences for performing a song opposing President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church.
“We have been arrested… and are accused of robbery,” Tolokonnikova wrote on her Twitter account.
“When we were arrested, we were not performing any kind of action, we were just walking around Sochi,” she added.
Her bandmate Maria Alyokhina confirmed she had also been arrested. They were arrested in central Sochi, some 30 kilometres north of the main Olympic venues.
Tolokonnikova said that she and Alyokhina had already been in Sochi for over a day with the aim of performing a new song titled “Putin will teach you how to love the motherland”.
She said that before their arrest they had already managed to stage “some Olympic performances” without giving further details.
They had both previously denounced the project spearheaded by Putin to host the Games and called for a boycott of the Olympics.
The radical art group Voina (War), which is run by Tolokonnikova’s husband Pyotr Verzilov said that seven other people had been arrested as well as the Pussy Riot girls.
According to Tolokonnikova, another unnamed third member of Pussy Riot was also arrested.
They were being taken in a police van to the police station in the Adler district which is closer to the Olympic venues.
The women were convicted of hooliganism in 2012 and sentenced to two years in prison colonies after staging their so-called “punk prayer” in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow but released early in December under a Kremlin-backed amnesty.
The stunt came just ahead of Putin’s re-election to the Kremlin in March 2012 and was aimed at denouncing the Orthodox Church’s support of the Russian strongman during the campaign.
Their jailing turned them from little-known feminist punks who staged a handful of guerrilla performances in Moscow to the stars of a global cause celebre symbolising the repression of civil dissent under Putin.
They received support from luminaries ranging from Madonna to Yoko Ono to Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
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Seems like the moron brigade is at it early today. The way I see it if the members of pussy riot want to go to Sochi there more than entitled too maybe it’s for reasons of provocation maybe not.
Of course it is, did you catch them on the Saturday night show? They have nothing productive to say about anything
Gary,
Are you seriously judging these women based on that interview?
Why would they jet around the world looking for support and not say anything?
Because they were never asked about anything serious.
BOC was an atrocious host. All he is able to cope with are some z-List celebrities for a bit of light entertainment. he should have never been given the chance to interview Pussy Riot.
Are you suggesting that these women are anything more than Z list celebrities?
They could have said anything they wanted but were more concerned about BOC kissing a bloke on the cheek than anything else
The questions they were asked on the Saturday night show were dreadful. Are you happy now you’re out of prison? Was is nice in prison or not nice? Then the interview ended. It has to be one of the worst interviews I’ve ever seen.
@Chris Judge: He should never have been given the chance to irritate the nation on a weekly basis, let alone a European exclusive with those women. He has the charm and hosting finesse of a cheap IKEA lamp.
@winding_down;
I couldn’t agree more.
@poo poo;
They are not z-list celebrities. They are fighting for a just cause and deserve a much better platform than BOC and The Saturday Night Show.
He has to be the WORST presenter of a show I’ve ever seen. Patethic inteviewer. No personality. Not an entertainer. No connection with the audience or interviewees. Only person who finds him amusing is himself. People must be disillusioned paying a tv license for this pile of muck. It has to be some sort of internal RTE joke or something. Otherwise, BOC knows some people in very high places in RTE.
And he actually looks like a pig.
No one forced them to do the interview so they got exactly what they deserved
I guess they thought that they would be having an interview with a qualified interviewer. Someone who has the skill and charisma to talk about the issues they want to highlight.
Instead, they got lumped with BOC.
Fighting for a just? If they would shit in your church – would you call it fight for a just and freedom? So silly, keyboard heroes.
Absolutely right. Chris, giving it more publicity than it deserves. Why pay a TV licence to watch this crap. Put it another way do you think that the Pussy Riot deserves any publicity and why Ireland
Lets compare the London riots of Aug 2011 where people actually died and huge ammounts of arson and looting took place. So what was the result, around 1,000 people were identified mainly through cctv and brought before the courts. So do we know who these people were and did we make celebrity’s out of them. For all we know many of the London rioters are still in gaol. Do we make celebrities out of them too….?
They are not associated with pussy riot anymore
The group distanced themselves from them both several weeks ago
Well the article would suggest otherwise, either way we only have their word that this even happened
They are no longer members, and the press should stop saying that they are.
http://pitchfork.com/news/53860-nadia-tolokonnikova-and-masha-alyokhina-no-longer-members-of-pussy-riot/
Heroes.
I admire what they stand for, but deplore their methods, fair enough if they wanted to originally protest the church’s influence over the state in Russia, but their protest in a church was so disrespectful to people there – I am a non practicing Catholic, I decry what organised religion has become, but in no way would I protest in a church or cathedral out of respect for others’ beliefs and out of respect for a place of spirituality for some. They have painted everyone with the same brush and shown disregard for others beliefs which is exactly what they are protesting against – a lack of freedom. Confused girls.
Not confused at all. Direct action must be spectacular in order to garner the necessary attention to the particular cause. I think they have done very well in that regard.
Edel, priests have raped children in churches, I would put Pussy Riots little song and dance a little bit lower on the scale of disrespect wouldn’t you?
And if the ‘direct action’ had been in a mosque Petr you would have denounced them as ‘Islamophobic’ and applauded their imprisonment.Your a hypocrite.
@Dungeon Master In Russian Orthodox churches?I think your a liar.The Russian Orthodox church suffered decades of persecution under Communism.
Edel mentioned respect in places of worship, and, are you claiming that those who have been oppressed are incapable of evil afterwards? What an odd statement of fact.
You implied kids have raped in Russian Orthodox churches.An extremely hyperbolic statement.The onus is on you to prove it.Are you going to provide some links?
Or are implying by some crazy twist of logic,that because of the abuse scandals in the RCC the Russian Orthodox Churches deserve to be defiled?
‘been raped’
Did I now? I never mentioned the Russian Orthodox Church once, i was specifically referring to places of worship, anywhere. Google Gleg Grozovsky and here’s another link if you’re so desperate for it http://en.ria.ru/crime/20110525/164230100.html
There is more evidence of systematic abuse at the BBC than in the link you provided.You’ll have to try harder.
Oh sorry you were referring to places of worship anywhere?So I guess it’s open season on places of worship anywhere?We should all go out and defile our local church,mosque,Buddhist temple, Synagogue,whatever because of the RCC scandals.You certainly have a strange and twisted logic.
Well, there is systemic abuse in all religions, be it psychological or paedophilia, the RCC are only the tip of the ice-berg compared to Islam and Judaism, the BBC isn’t a place of worship, nice strawman though.
But your original point was that because of the RCC scandals places of worship everywhere deserve to be defiled. ‘
The BBC had Jimmy Savile a serial child abuser on it’s books for decades.The RCC does not have a monopoly on child abuse and you are still yet to explain the logic that concludes you to believe RCC child abuse justifies defilement of an Orthodox chuch in Russia.
You know, in Ireland church has far more influence rather than in Ireland. Give them a call, sure and ask them to shit in one of your Irish churches. Would you consider it as a right “method” against Irish church influence?
*rather than in Russia
No, it wasn’t Al-Shamen, I was saying that places of worship shouldn’t be held up to any respect because quite frankly they don’t deserve it, it doesn’t matter what religion the belong to, but you keep responding with want you want to hear if you like, you’ve done it three times now, might as well do it a fourth.
And Mikel, if you are referring to me, no need to call Pussy Riot, plenty of volunteers in Ireland I would imagine.
Just because you think places of worship don’t deserve respect does’nt give you the right to enter them and defile them.I’m no fan of religion but I’m sensible enough to know that defiling places of worship that are sacred to millions is not a wise course of action.In fact it’s a recipe for violence and chaos.
Lock them back up!
Well said.two idiots they are
Most people on this website won’t acknowledege it,but if they tried to pull a similar stunt in St Pauls in London or St Patricks in NYC they would have been locked there too.
They wouldn’t have been sent to prison, never mind a labour camp, you absolute flute.
People in this country go to prison for not paying their TV license.Fact is the Russian Orthodox church was persecuted for decades under Communism.People in Russia have strong feeliings about it and felt insulted and offended by the Pussy Riot stunt.Opinion polls showed that a large majority agreed with their imprisonment.Like I said below if they had tried this in a mosque you would be condemning their actions as ‘Islamophobic’.
I don’t think that police in the UK would get involved until there was a complaint from the church authorities. A couple of years ago there were protests at St Pauls which went on for ages
Yeah the ‘occupy’ protests.Which took place outside Saint Pauls not in the cathedral itself and the focus of the protest were the bankers not the church.
There were also protests inside Dublin’s St Patricks cathedral and it was peacefully resolved.
The so called ‘Pussie Riot’ in Russia was a publicity stunt aimed at drawing a police response. They got what they deserved.
No they did not Chris. They engaged in peaceful direct action for a legitimate cause. Fair play to them.
They weren’t protests in St Patricks they were asylum seekers. It had nothing to do with anything that could be construed as offensive or protesting elements of the Church itself.
I am all for equal rights, but I am sick of hearing about Pussy Riot. The more I hear about them, the more I dislike them
What are they doing in Sochi? Sounds like provocation to me.
It’s a free country they can go where they like…oh wait…
Methinks some people are terribly threatened by strong-willed women with political conviction to burn.
Feeling a bit in adequate, are we lads? ;)
Ah good man Petr landing in with a classic straw man argument! Make something up about the people who have a different opinion to you and make it seem like anyone who takes the other stance is only feeling inadequate. Vintage stuff!
Typical Leftist attitude: ‘Your fine as long as you agree with me,but disagree with me and your a Nazi’.
Don’t worry Petr, these righties are just scared because their beloved ultra-conservative landscape has all but been wiped away by free-thinking
free thinking is that what you call it ?? any of ye see the pictures of a heavily pregnant fully nude Tollokinnova having full blown sex in a museum ?? now tell me what on earth was she protesting ?? ive no time for them personally or that type of behavior nor going into churches and making a mockery of what others believe,i dislike organised religon but you have to respect others beliefs,its a two way street
Pair of dour idiots looking for attention
I saw the interview on the Saturday night show and even though it was a poor interview they put their lives on the line to try and better their country. Something very few Irish would do. They are doing the same as Egyptians and Syrians. Fighting for their future. I would hate to see how bad Ireland would become in the hands on some of the previous commenters
They hardly put their lives on the line, if anyone over there wanted them dead they’d be dead
Ah here. I applaud Pussy Riot’s overall stance (though I think the cathedral gig was a terrible idea) but you cannot say they’re doing “the same” as people in Syria who are fighting and dying in a civil war right now.
Good thing you trademarked that name Gary, hope you got neutered too while you were at it. The quality of that interview was poor, due in no part to the two heroic women but due to the inadequate gimp who is nothing but an embarrassment.
Just because I don’t agree with you or them I should be neutered, there’s radical feminism for you
Radical feminism is right. Whatever sympathy they had they have blown it. Could not car less about them
Care less
I’m sure they’ll be devastated, James.
Radical feminism is right? Do you know much about radical feminism James?
What might push you over the brink, though, is Brendan OâConnor and the Saturday Night Showâs treatment of Pussy Riot last night. It is difficult to convey just how dreadful, how idiotic, and how teeth grindingly embarrassing this broadcast was. Pussy Riot are heroes. They are a source of admiration for millions of people. They were imprisoned and subjected to brutal conditions for acting in accordance with their radical feminist political convictions.
HTML tags didn’t work. The above is a quote from this blog:
The only admiration is for the hot one and not because of her protesting
Methinks your a hypocrite.We all know you would have agreed with their imprisonment if they had attempted the same stunt in a mosque.
This is Ireland not Saudi Arabia, I couldn’t give a fiddlers if it was a church, a mosque or a pig farm they played at. The Irish have become very adept at belittling people who have morals.
Having ‘morals’ does not entitle one to break the law and defile a place of worship.
Al Shamen, if they feel there is a gross.injustice, how do you advise they should have protested
Of course not al shamen, but so many countries in the world (and no, not just the west) treat criminal activitiy differently and more leniently when it’s done in protest. Most judicial systems will take your intentions into account to some extent. Whether it’s pussy riot or greenpeace, Russia has taken to searching for the harshest sentences available for small acts of protest. Greenpeace obviously were not on that oil rig to sabotage it or steal from its crew. Pussy riot were in that church carrying out a tasteless and objectionable protest – but do you really think they deserved hard labour for it?
@Ailbhe Probably one that does not involve alienating millions of Russian Orthodox Christians or simulating sex acts with frozen chickens.
At denisj. Oil rigs are extremely dangerous places at the best of times for trained professionals.The Russians where correct to apprehend a bunch of amateur Uni students attempting illegally board state property.
Sewing clothes together can hardly be defined as hard labour and prison time in Russia no matter what the offense usually involves labour of some description.Their laws their rules.If you can’t do the crime don’t do the time.
And let me point out unlike their civilised American counterparts,the Russians have abolished capital punishment.
“An unjust law is no law at all”. A churches status as a place of worship is purely subjective, and doesn’t convey an immunity to question or criticism. You and your ilk hate the idea of the people questioning authority, regardless of the motives.
I bet they did something really edgy.
How were they able to tweet if they were under arrest ? First thing the arresting officer does is to confiscate anything you’ve got on you, including smartphones and the like.
Ya that’s what got me too. Just because they have come out and Say they were arrested doesn’t mean they were. From all evidence the Russian police are not know for been gentle and nice (and releasing people). But now you have bout ten people coming out saying they were arrested and basically released straight away, and in this case allowed to tweet away.
Nadya’s husband tweeted from her account. Plenty of photographic evidence of their arrest and detention can be found on this great website called Google.
http://www.interpretermag.com/sochi-liveblog-pussy-riot-arrests/#1342
Fools- simple as
Why, when they were telling people to boycott the Olympics were they in Sochi? And how did they tweet if they were arrested? ?? Smells of bs to me!
Dopes
Chicks eh!
Mickey dodgers
With mickeys like you around, no wonder.
These 2 aren’t even in Pussy Riot anymore. They were fired from the band last week…
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