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Pussy Riot and Russia's surreal 'justice'
CNN ^ | 08/17/12 | Rachel Denber

Posted on 08/17/2012 4:22:14 PM PDT by BurningOak

Moscow (CNN) -- There is no basic human right to barge into a church to make a political statement, jump around near the altar, and shout obscenities. But there is most certainly the right not to lose your liberty for doing so, even if the act is offensive.

But that is exactly what happened Friday. A court in Moscow sentenced the three members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot to two years in prison.

In my two decades monitoring human rights in Russia I've never seen anything like the Pussy Riot case -- the media attention, the outpouring of public support, the celebrity statements for the detained and criminally charged punk band members.

The image of three young women facing down an inexorable system of unfair justice and an oppressive state has crystallized for many in the West what is wrong with human rights in Russia. To be sure, it is deeply troubling.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: freedomofspeech; putin; russia; tyranny
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Russia has new martyrs for freedom. The girls of this hilariously named rock band Pussy Riot are imprisoned for critic of KGB dictator Vladimir Putin. The excuse used to send them into the dungeon was that they read an anti-Putin prayer at a church. The leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church is basically a branch of the Russian government whose main occupation is to prop up the regime by convincing the masses that Putin was appointed by God. They are modern day pharisees in the service of the KGB. The sham trial and draconian sentence show that the Russian government, judicial system, and state church lost all legitimacy. Russia needs real Christianity and another revolution. Hopefully this will wake up the Russian people.
1 posted on 08/17/2012 4:22:19 PM PDT by BurningOak
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To: BurningOak

Just wonder if these girls would get all this support if they pulled this stunt in a mosque instead of a Christian church.


2 posted on 08/17/2012 4:34:23 PM PDT by allendale
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To: BurningOak
Someone needs to tell the morons at CNN this is what happens in countries that disregard the concept of natural rights descending from the creator in favor of rights granted (or taken away) by men, elected or otherwise.

Maybe they'll rethink their political POV here at home. Or not.

3 posted on 08/17/2012 4:37:01 PM PDT by skeeter
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To: allendale

That would have been a moot point, because they would have been swiftly and brutally murdered before they had the chance to get themselves arrested...


4 posted on 08/17/2012 4:38:37 PM PDT by sinsofsolarempirefan
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To: BurningOak

Why is this any of our business? Let Russia Be Russia.


5 posted on 08/17/2012 4:40:17 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: allendale

Probably not, they would just be murdered on the spot and that would be that. A fact that in no way justifies this travesty.

When a church enters the service of the KGB it stops being a church. If Christ was alive today he would probably be in jail too for criticizing this “church” and its boot licking leadership.


6 posted on 08/17/2012 4:44:16 PM PDT by BurningOak (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2830849/reply?c=1)
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To: skeeter

I don’t think that desecrating a national shrine is covered by the First Amendment.

You don’t have a natural right to do that.


7 posted on 08/17/2012 4:44:34 PM PDT by DBrow
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To: BurningOak
But there is most certainly the right not to lose your liberty for doing so, even if the act is offensive.

Wrong. And they did lose their liberty for so doing,even if CNN is in a wad about it.

Too bad for them but they knew it would happen.

8 posted on 08/17/2012 4:47:07 PM PDT by bill1952 (Choice is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
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To: dfwgator

The rebirth of the Soviet Empire is very much our business. We lost over a hundred thousand American boys fighting proxy wars against the Soviets, with all the dangers we face today, last thing we want is the return of the USSR.


9 posted on 08/17/2012 4:47:14 PM PDT by BurningOak (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2830849/reply?c=1)
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To: DBrow
I was referring more to CNN’s plaintiff whining than the nature of the act, while they support leftist tyranny here at home.

I am not sympathetic to Pussy Riot's cause and would love to see Madonna breaking rocks in SIberia for a few years.

10 posted on 08/17/2012 4:48:14 PM PDT by skeeter
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To: BurningOak

Are they threatening anybody? I don’t see them moving back into Poland anytime soon.


11 posted on 08/17/2012 4:48:55 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: BurningOak

The USSR is dead and it ain’t coming back. Putin is no Communist, might be more of a Fascist, but the last thing he wants is to bring back the Soviet Union.


12 posted on 08/17/2012 4:50:25 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: BurningOak
Soviet "empire" has nothing at all to do with this.

This is Mother Russia - and they do enforce their laws unlike the muslim in charge here who is flooding the country with legal illegals while destroying our economy in his quest to "fundamentally change" America.

While Putin is a dangerous character to sure, he certainly is not being pushed around by the gay agenda.

13 posted on 08/17/2012 4:51:59 PM PDT by bill1952 (Choice is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
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To: BurningOak
there is most certainly the right not to lose your liberty for doing so, even if the act is offensive.

Horsesh!t!!! Who made up this "right"? Sounds to me like the "right" to kill your baby or your grandmother or whoever . . . a leftist bunch of mess.

14 posted on 08/17/2012 4:54:58 PM PDT by madprof98
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To: BurningOak

First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Freedom of religion is the first freedom. These three young women are just thugs denying freedom of religion to others.

Throw them in prison!


15 posted on 08/17/2012 4:56:47 PM PDT by donna (Republicans wont change their ways until conservatives draw the line.)
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To: BurningOak

There is more to this story than what CNN is revealing here...

There is a group of protesters in Russia who have been engaging in “performance art” in public as a form of protest. That is, these women are protesters, more than they are a “band” of any kind. And at least one of them was involved with a protest group that did outrageous things like having sex in public as a form of protest. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voina

For this final protest, the three women donned hoods, entered an Orthodox church along with members of that church, crossed themselves at the altar, and then proceeded to sing a PROFANITY-laced song asking the Virgin Mary to become a feminist and help put Putin out of power, among other things. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pussy_Riot#Church_protest

They are Leftists, and ironically they’ve been charged with a hate crime - it’s been fun reading the reaction from celebrities defending them, saying what these women did was free speech not “hate speech.”

Yes, two years seems a bit much. But they were facing seven years in prison. Putin himself urged for leniency. The prosecutor asked for three years. In the end, they were sentenced to two.


16 posted on 08/17/2012 4:56:47 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: BurningOak

So they’ve been convicted, but how do we judge whether or not they’re....guilty?


17 posted on 08/17/2012 4:58:09 PM PDT by Churchjack
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To: allendale
Just wonder if these girls would get all this support if they pulled this stunt in a mosque instead of a Christian church.

How about if they were named Peaceful Daffodils?

18 posted on 08/17/2012 4:58:25 PM PDT by workerbee (June 28, 2012 -- 9/11 From Within)
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To: BurningOak
Watched a few minutes of Fox News at someone else's house today - Sheps' time slot but someone else covering. Too ... er... delicate to call them anything but "a punk band".


19 posted on 08/17/2012 4:58:36 PM PDT by caveat emptor (Zippity Do Dah)
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To: BurningOak
Russia has new martyrs for freedom.

Yeah, right.

These leftist twits are martyrs for socialism at best and Communism at worst.

Their problem is Putin is wise to the machinations of the commies and KGB types, they trained him.

Pussy Riot should have pulled this stunt in the US, they would have gotten a full blown reception at the White House for their promotion of perversion, and Obama would have helped them sue the church they desecrated.

20 posted on 08/17/2012 4:59:49 PM PDT by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it, and the Constitution and law mean what WE say.)
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