Putin says fate of Pussy Riot women out of his hands

(Interfax – March 7, 2013)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied he can influence the fate of members of the female punk band Pussy Riot who are currently serving prison terms. He was talking to journalists on a visit to Vologda on 7 March, as reported by Interfax news agency that day.

“That depends not on me, but on the corresponding procedures and current legislation. I wouldn’t like to comment on court proceedings,” Putin was quoted as saying.

“We have independent judicial authorities,” he added.

When journalists pointed out that he had commented on their sentence before, Putin replied: “I don’t remember, maybe I commented on it before, but today I wouldn’t want to do that.”

In August 2012, three members of Pussy Riot – Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Mariya Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich – were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for performing an anti-Putin “punk prayer” in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in February that year. They were sentenced to two years in prison. In October, Samutsevich’s sentenced was suspended after an appeal and she was freed on probation.

Earlier on 7 March, the heavyweight daily Kommersant reported that Tolokonnikova had applied for parole, quoting her lawyer, Irina Khrunova. Tolokonnikova had applied on the grounds that she has an underage daughter and had received job offers from art gallery owner Marat Gelman, a number of theatrical studios and the management of Novaya Gazeta, an opposition newspaper known for its investigative journalism.