From Echo Moskvy:
Sir Paul McCartney has requested the early release of Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, convicted members of Pussy Riot
The British musician sent these letters to the Berezniki court, where the activists’ requests for parole are being considered
Sir Paul McCartney has once again stood up for the Pussy Riot members, and the judge at Berezniki, Lydia Yakovleva, has received two unique signatures from the legendary musician. The letters were written by hand, and begin with the words “Dear Lidia Mikhailovna”. The husband of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Peter Verzilov has posted photos of the two letters on his microblog. Part of the text of the communiqués is reproduced on McCartney’s official website. The musician asks the judge to release the jailed activists. He writes that the Alekhina’s continued stay in prison could be harmful for her. If the convicts were released, McCartney says it will be a positive sign for people around the world watching this case. The musician leans on the sense of justice in the Russian people, in his words, when he mentions Tolokonnikova. A decision to grant parole, the message says, quote, “will defuse the situation, which is hard to accept for people who value compassion and justice.”
In August last year, Sir Paul McCartney came out in support of the members of punk band Pussy Riot. A few days before the verdict on the demonstration in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, he sent them a letter expressing his hope for the activists to be found not guilty.
Sir Paul’s letter writing was unfortunately in vain, as the court chose to refuse parole.
Comments from Echo Moskvy:
bujhmc:
“will defuse the situation, which is hard to accept for people who value compassion and justice.”
Yeah, they don’t care about compassion and justice or the law if it’s Putin who issues the orders.
rumbarash:
Dear Paul McCartney! Rasha iz a demercratik state, everybuddy is da same 4 our lawz, not lyk the decaying west! The Russian high court can’t free anyone early!
rentalinn:
Do foreign citizens have the right to dictate to a sovereign state how they should carry out their laws? Let him stick to his music, where are his new albums or has he written himself dry?
bakst: (responding to above)
Any citizen of a free country has the right to say whatever they want to whomever they want.
zapadnay:
Naive foreigners don’t understand what a phonecall to the judge can do …
trefoviy: (responding to above)
Do you really think that they’ve got their own paradise over there? Just you visit … don’t confuse the West you see from the windows of the tour bus and the real West, so loved by you.
m_patrick:
I wonder whether McCartney has seen how they stole a chicken from a shop, and what they got up to in that museum?
[Note: the Voina group, two members of which went on to form Pussy Riot, have published videos of a woman inserting a chicken into her vagina, but it’s unclear whether Pussy Riot were directly involved in that particular event (NSFW link), and an orgy was organised in a museum, which a pregnant Nadezhda Tolokonnikova took part in (NSFW Link).]
krab_: (responding to above)
He probably saw, and that’s when they got his interested. I think that after they are freed, they’ll be sent an invitation to visit the Beatles museum in Liverpool.
rei_11:
Dear Paul isn’t up to date! In Russia, one man decides everything. The rest are all backing dancers (or vocalists)! So Paul didn’t need to talk to the judge (who just reads the sentences), but to this single man!
paveleo:
Thanks Paul!
chapavas:
Nice one Paul. Free our people who fight injustice.
mick_:
They’ll free them if Paul can play the melody of at least one of Pussy Riot‘s “songs” from memory…
lavr__:
Let Paul adopt them, for example.
kaplan9111:
Why don’t we let Sir Paul M. play in a cathedral over there in support of Pussy, see how it ends!
