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MOSCOW — A Moscow judge handed down stiff prison sentences of two years on Friday afternoon for three young women who staged a protest against Vladimir V. Putin in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior last February and whose jailing and trial on hooliganism charges have generated worldwide criticism of constraints on political speech in Russia. [...]
The saga began in February when the women infiltrated Moscow’s main cathedral wearing colorful balaclavas, and pranced around in front of the golden Holy Doors leading into the altar, dancing, chanting and lip-syncing for what would later become a music video of a profane song in which they beseeched the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Mr. Putin.
-- David M. Herszenhorn at The New York Times
By Russian standards this is lenient, though it remains disappointing. I love the part about how President Putin was hoping for a lighter judgment, as if he too suffers the strictures of a separation of powers that we have in America and the West. Or maybe I am too negative in supposing that he holds the judicial power in his hands as well, but I doubt I am. I also see in this story that the former chess champion Gary Kasparov was active in this protest: "Mr. Kasparov fought with the police and appeared to be beaten as he was bundled into a police vehicle." But I know he has been active against the authoritarian regime for years, perhaps from the beginning.
The saga began in February when the women infiltrated Moscow’s main cathedral wearing colorful balaclavas, and pranced around in front of the golden Holy Doors leading into the altar, dancing, chanting and lip-syncing for what would later become a music video of a profane song in which they beseeched the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Mr. Putin.
-- David M. Herszenhorn at The New York Times
By Russian standards this is lenient, though it remains disappointing. I love the part about how President Putin was hoping for a lighter judgment, as if he too suffers the strictures of a separation of powers that we have in America and the West. Or maybe I am too negative in supposing that he holds the judicial power in his hands as well, but I doubt I am. I also see in this story that the former chess champion Gary Kasparov was active in this protest: "Mr. Kasparov fought with the police and appeared to be beaten as he was bundled into a police vehicle." But I know he has been active against the authoritarian regime for years, perhaps from the beginning.
