Pussy Riot Trial Sheds Light on Kremlin's Religious Ties.

Pussy Riot Trial Sheds Light on Kremlin's Religious Ties.(Spiegel).By Benjamin Bidder.The trial against Moscow guerrilla punk band Pussy Riot is drawing to a close. Following calls from within the Russian Orthodox Church for tough punishment of the punk musicians' impromptu performance inside Moscow's main cathedral, prosecutors on Tuesday called for three-year prison sentences for each of the three accused women. Rushed trial proceedings have lasted late into the evenings. There were allegations in the courtrooom that the defendants wore clothing that was "obviously contrary to general church rules." It was even suggested that the women were practically possessed by the devil, having "twitched and jumped satanically, throwing their legs up, rolling their heads and calling out very insulting and blasphemous words."
Thanks to the slow summer news cycle, dozens of television teams from around the world have come to report on the grotesque trial at Moscow's central Khamovniki court. But it has slowly begun to dawn on both the Russian Orthodox community and the Kremlin that they may have done themselves a disservice with this ruthless and bizarre prosecution of the anti-Putin band members.
A tough verdict won't have the effect of a deterrent, warns Orthodox intellectual and clergyman Andrei Kurayev. On the contrary, the church is provoking copycat crimes and encouraging a radicalization of the opposition, he says. There has "never been a shortage of young extremists" in Russia, Kurayev adds.
Konstantin Sonin, a columnist for the business newspaper Vedomosti, even spoke of the "worst mistake by the Church since 1901." That year the Orthodox Church had the elderly writer Leo Tolstoy excommunicated.
Pop legend Madonna made a case for a lenient sentence during a concert performance in Moscow this week, as have many members of the Bundestag, Germany's parliament. Solidarity events have been staged in Munich and a support video by international pop performance artist Peaches is planned in Berlin. Even in the tranquil Swiss city of Winterthur, someone reportedly spray painted "Free Pussy Riot" on the side of building. But as questionable as the furor with which the church and justice system are pursuing the band may be, the reactions and expectations from the West are equally exaggerated. Britain's Observer newspaper called the group Putin's "biggest political headache." Meanwhile, German weekly Der Freitag asked, "Can these women overthrow Putin?" The answer, of course, is no. Though polls show that the majority of Russians disapprove of the church's ties to the government in Moscow, data from the Levada Center, a respected research agency, shows that nearly 47 percent of respondents view the maximum possible sentence of 7 years as "appropriate" punishment for the band.Read the full story here.