The Russian government has sentenced five members of the feminist group Pussy Riot to prison terms ranging from 8 to 13 years on charges related to anti-war protests against Ukraine held between 2022 and 2024. The sentences were announced last Monday, the 15th, by the news website Mediazona .
The Basmanny District Court in Moscow convicted members Maria Alyokhina, Diana Burkot, Taso Pletner, Olga Borisova, and Alina Petrova for spreading "false information" about the Russian armed forces through the 2022 music video "Mama, Don't Watch TV".
Furthermore, they were also accused of performing obscene gestures and acts during a show in Germany in 2024, in which one member allegedly urinated on a portrait of Vladimir Putin .
In a statement via social media, Pussy Riot rejected the accusations, with Diana Burkot , the song's composer, saying: “I stand by every word, and my anti-war stance is clear. Even if I were in Russia, I would say the same thing: fuck off.”
Read the full statement below:
Pussy Riot statement
"Today, a Russian court sentenced me to 8 years in a penal colony under the so-called 'law on falsifications concerning the army' for the music video 'Mama, Don't Watch TV'. It seems like a joke. This video is our anti-war statement. I am the author of the song, I perform the 'slogan-chants', I act in the video and I also directed the editing. Therefore, I stand by every word, and my anti-war position is clear.".
The paradox is that rapists and murderers in Russia receive 3 to 4 years in prison, sometimes serving less than a year before signing a military contract, killing Ukrainians, and then freely returning to society with PTSD, only to end up back in prison for yet another murder. Is this cycle of violence the new norm in Russia?
Meanwhile, activists receive monstrous sentences for their opinions. 8 years for freedom of speech. Freedom of speech or religious freedom—as if such concepts no longer exist in Russia. Maybe I'm an atheist. In my opinion, that's better than believing in Patriarch Kirill. Yet another tyrant at the top of the Russian Orthodox Church, which now blesses weapons and soldiers for the war in Ukraine.
The large-scale war against Ukraine has already lasted more than three years. And I continue to believe: Ukraine needs to win and Putin needs to be tried in The Hague. The Russian government is a classic example of patriarchy—the worst kind of abuser: a tyrant, a narcissist, a toxic manipulator who thrives on destroying the will of others.
I sincerely and passionately wish that all people in this world would use their voice. Activists are not some kind of 'heroes' with criminal cases. Every person matters. The collective matters. Activism is now necessary as a daily practice, because only together can we resist and overcome the crisis of democracy.
Fortunately, they don't have access to my physical body. And even if I were in Russia, I'd say the same thing: go fuck yourself.
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