Source: HRO.org (info), 20/04/12 

· Freedom of expression  · Freedom of conscience  · Prisoners 

Head of the Presidential Council on Human Rights, Mikhail Fedotov, has said that the members of the punk music group Pussy Riot, charged with organizing a “punk prayer” in the cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow that scandalized many believers, should have been released from pre-trial detention. 

On 19 April Moscow’s Tagansky district court prolonged the custody of Pussy Riot members Maria Alekhina, Ekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova. One of the grounds on which custody was extended was given by prosecutors as the need to protect the young women from criminal offences being committed against them. [Read more]