Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
Pussy Riot another photo shoot by Vanya Berezkin (2012)
I just found out today that the Burmese democracy voice Aung San Suu Kyi, on her recent landmark visit to the United States, spoke out for the release of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot. And that Yoko Ono and Amnesty International awarded them this year’s LennonOno Grant For Peace 2012 in September.
Quoting Yoko Ono “I thank Pussy Riot for standing firmly in their belief of freedom of expression and making all women of the world proud to be women and I am too…I want to work for their immediate release from the prison they are in now.” Piotr Verzilov, husband of jailed band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and their four-year-old daughter attended the ceremony in New York and accepted the award.
On behalf of the band Verzilov said: “It’s an incredible honour to receive this award from Yoko Ono…It’s incredible to see the people around the world go out and voice their support.”
“Maria, Katia and Nadia have been declared Amnesty International prisoners of conscience. We are proud to stand with them…We are not done yet. We won’t be done until these women are free.,” Suzanne Nossel, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said at the ceremony.
In August a Moscow court sentenced the Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich to two years in a labor camp for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” after a performance on the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow, February 21, 2012.
A YouTube video of that political performance, in which the band made fun of Russian president Vladimir Putin, was widely shared internationally, and the arrest of the band was condemned by the international community as a means to crack down on the freedom of expression.
Pussy Riot related DooBeeDoo posts
Special Women Around Us: Pussy Riot Women Sentenced to 2 Years Yesterday!
