The indictment says that I committed hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and animosity and hatred toward Orthodox believers. This assertion is fundamentally unclear to me. The aim of our performance was to draw the attention of the Russian clergy and the prior of Christ the Savior Cathedral [to] Patriarch Kirill ... [and] his repeated public statements that the Orthodox believers must vote for Putin. I am an Orthodox believer but my political views are different.... As a representative of my generation, I have other questions about the relations between the church and the state, to which I sincerely want to get answers from Father Kirill and count on his wisdom. I thought that the church loves its children, but it turns out that there is a division here, and the church only loves those children who believe in Putin.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
In Russian Court, Punk Rock Defendant Criticizes Church Support For Putin
As previously reported, in Russia earlier this year three members of a women's punk rock band, calling itself Pussy Riot, were arrested after they entered a nearly empty Christ the Savior Cathedral and performed an obscene "punk prayer." Interfax yesterday reported on a court hearing for Maria Alyokhina, one of the defendants. Alyokhina told the court:
