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
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.
For me, even more shocking were the images of Stanislav Markelov, a human rights lawyer, lying on the sidewalk with the back of his head blown off in 2009, or the body of tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in prison in 2009 after he blew the whistle on a massive government extortion scheme.
The Pussy Riot case
shines a much needed, if highly disturbing, spotlight on the issue of
freedom of expression in post-Soviet Russia
On February 21, four members of the group
performed what they call a "punk prayer" in Moscow's Russian Orthodox
Christ the Savior Cathedral. They danced around and shouted some words
to their song, "Virgin Mary, Get Putin Out." The stunt lasted less than a
minute before the women were forcibly removed.
The same day, a video
widely shared on social media showed a montage of the stunt with the
song spliced in. The song criticizes the Russian Orthodox Church's
alleged close relationship with the Kremlin and the personally close
relationship of President Vladimir V. Putin with the patriarch of the
Russian Orthodox Church.
Three of the band members were tried on criminal "hooliganism" charges. Their trial was theater of the absurd. In their closing statements, the women and their lawyers delivered devastating critiques of the state of justice and civic freedoms in Russia.
'Pussy Riot' convicted and sentenced
Madonna shows support for jailed band
During the Soviet era,
the human rights landscape in Russia was stark. But since then the
situation has been harder to figure out, often making it easier for
outsiders simply to give the government a pass. But the devil is in the
details.
It has been incredibly difficult to pin down
any involvement of officials in the beatings and murders of
investigative journalists and human rights activists. And the
government, while not silencing civil society groups outright, tries to
marginalize, discredit, and humiliate them, and crush them with
heavy-handed bureaucracy, trumped-up accusations, threats and the like.
Whatever misdemeanor the
three women incurred for their antics in the church should not have
been transformed by the authorities into a criminal offense that in
effect punishes them for their speech. It's typical, though, of how the
authorities try to keep a lid on controversial issues. The Russian think
tank SOVA
has documented dozens of cases in recent years in which the authorities
used the threat of extremism charges to silence critics.
This also isn't the
first time Russian authorities have misused criminal legislation to
stifle critical artistic expression. In 2010 a Moscow district court found
the co-organizers of a controversial art exhibit guilty of the vague
charge of "inciting religious hatred." The art exhibit organizers were
fined.
By making the Pussy Riot
band members await trial in jail for almost six months, the authorities
made clear how they plan to set boundaries for political criticism.
After a winter of
unprecedented, peaceful opposition protests, a dozen demonstrators whom
the authorities claim were involved in a scuffle with police during a
mass demonstration in May have been arrested and are being charged with
crimes grossly disproportionate to their alleged actions. Police have searched opposition leaders' homes.
Laws rammed through
Russia's parliament this summer sent more signals: criminal liability
for leaders of nongovernmental organizations for "serious breaches" of new restrictive regulations; much tougher sanctions for violating rules on public assembly; and new restrictions on the Internet
that could easily shut down big social networking sites. Critics of the
Kremlin have been subject to vicious harassment, intimidation and
grotesque public smear campaigns.
For years Russian human
rights defenders have tried to draw attention to the lack of
independence of the courts. With the unprecedented attention to the
Pussy Riot trial, the surreal state of justice when political interests
are at stake is there for all to see. What we really should be wondering
isn't why Pussy Riot is so distinctive, but whether it's just the tip
of the iceberg.
Too often, foreign
governments have resorted to wishful thinking about the direction Russia
is heading. Talking about human rights at a high level -- where all
things in Russia are decided -- is unpleasant business. It might be
hard, but Russia won't respect other governments if they shy away.
If three women in the
defendants' cage had the courage to speak out about where Russia is
headed, surely members of the international community should too. They,
at least, won't be thrown in jail.