On 16 April 2012 Memorial Human Rights Centre in Moscow issued a statement on the prosecution of members of the Pussy Riot punk music group.

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The public protest organized by the Pussy Riot punk music group in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on February 21 has now been at the centre of public debate for almost two months.

The debate is not so much over the protest itself, but rather the form it took – with an inappropriate reaction by both religious and secular authorities.

Memorial Human Rights Centre does not condone conducting political protests or artistic self-expression on church space, all the more so if this is conducted in ways which are alien to religious practices. Such actions must inevitably be perceived as an insult to the feelings of believers. The real motives – be they the rejection of bellicose clericalism or complaints over the words or actions of certain members of the church hierarchies – will simply not be clear to most.

However, condemnation of the actions by the members of Pussy Riot from a moral, or indeed expedient, standpoint cannot form a basis for their criminal prosecution.

Criminal prosecution for the non-violent expression of criticism of political or church figures is in breach of fundamental legal principles laid out in both the Constitution of the Russian Federation and in international acts signed by the Russian Federation.

Nonetheless, in March, the Tagansky Court in Moscow took the decision to detain several members of the group on remand: Maria Alekhina, Ekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and the Moscow City Court upheld this decision.

However, from our point of view, there is no legal basis for such a preventative measure, or for criminal prosecution.

For all the disapproval of the protest by Pussy Riot, their actions cannot be considered more than an administrative offense, given that there were no signs of the use or threat of violence, of material damage, or of the use of arms or other objects as arms.

The very prosecution of Alekhina, Samtsevich and Tolokonnikova, a completely inappropriate and unjustified measure of restraint, and the numerous public statements by various, including senior, officials, all gives reason to consider the criminal prosecution of the members of Pussy Riot as political, and they themselves as political prisoners.

Memorial Human Rights Centre is calling for an end to the criminal prosecution of Alekhina, Samtsevich and Tolokonnikova, and for their immediate release.

For more information on the political prisoners Alekhina, Samtsevich and Tolokonnikova: http://www.memo.ru/d/3403.html (in Russian).

For a list of persons recognized by Memorial Human Rights Centre as political prisoners: http://www.memo.ru/section/list/id/121/rubric3/256 (in Russian).

April 18, 2012