Religion, Reputation and the Rule of Law: The Implications of Russia's 'Pussy Riot' Trial

By traditional Russian standards, the outcome was lenient: the defendants, a three-woman political rock band collective known as Pussy Riot who had performed without permission in an Orthodox cathedral, were not beaten, shot or sent to Siberia - yet.

But to those who dwell in the civilized world, even those parts where repression is common, the event had all the staged markings of a Stalinist show trial. The guilty verdict was preordained and only the severity of the sentence was in question. Two years in prison was the outcome. There will be legal appeals (fat chance) and even Kremlin supporters are suggesting (with more hope than knowledge, one surmises)that President Putin will urge/decree a shorter term.

The larger issue lies is the global context. Times of change are disorienting and frightening. In Russia, the US, China, Europe - and almost everywhere else on the planet, the verities of the post WWII era are crumbling in the face of faster and freer communications. Try as they might, authorities simply can not keep up with the power of the technologies driving this trend. Ethnicity, gender, race - and religion have all been affected by the tumultuous stirrings.

Religious leaders feel especially vulnerable - and empowered. Islam and evangelical Christianity have both seized on the uncertainty of their believers to demand political changes consistent with their ambitions. The Russian Orthodox church, having been suppressed for most of the 20th century has enjoyed its new-found position as a favored ally of the political class. The Kremlin has used it to legitimize its continued grip on power in the face of Communism's fall. And the Church has reciprocated.

So the protests against President Putin in 2011 were something of a shock to the system. Who would dare do such a thing under the Tsars or the Communist hegemons? The Pussy Riot protest event in 2012, held purposely in a cathedral, was a direct challenge to the political role of the country's historic religion - and a new attack on the alliance. As such, the Kremlin evidently believed the protesters had to be made an example of.

But in so doing they erred. Because they elevated what was otherwise an obscure act of political theater that would hardly have earned a press mention in most western societies into a global cause celebre. And they have raised questions about the proper places and uses of religion both in Russia and in the world at large.

When embraced voluntarily, religion's role is secure. But when used as an agent of repression - either overtly as in the Pussy Riot case - or less obviously as in attempts to thwart freedom of speech and other civil liberties in the US - negative reactions eventually outweigh the potential short term power gained.

Research has demonstrated that economic success is strongly correlated with the rule of law. In a competitive global society, Russia and other countries must compete for investment. As in any competition, when those considering the odds believe them to be uneven, they will take their chances elsewhere. JL

Miriam Elder reports in The Guardian:

A storm of criticism broke in Russia following the harsh two-year prison sentences given to three members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot for protesting against the government in a Moscow cathedral. Those openly critical of the jail terms included some who are close to Vladimir Putin and others with strong links to the church, increasing pressure on the authorities to treat the trio more leniently.
Three members of the punk collective – Maria Alyokhina, 24, Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22 – were sentenced to serve two years in a penal colony on Friday after being found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred". A Moscow judge rejected the defence's argument that the band's performance of an anti-Putin "punk prayer" was a form of political protest and ruled that it was motivated by hatred for Russian Orthodoxy.

Alexey Kudrin, a former finance minister who remains a close ally of Putin, said: "The verdict in the case against the Pussy Riot punk band isn't only a fact in the lives of three young women; it is also yet another blow to the justice system and, above all, Russian citizens' belief in it."

Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, another member of the country's minority liberal elite, also attacked the verdict, calling it a "strategic error that terribly damages the authority of the justice system". He voiced the widespread belief that the court case was politically orchestrated: "We don't know who took the final decision – the Kremlin? The patriarch? Probably not the court itself."

Opposition activists have accused Putin of orchestrating the campaign against Pussy Riot. The trio were arrested after a brief performance in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour of a song calling for the Virgin Mary to "chase Putin out". The band formed in response to Putin's decision to return to the presidency, and have gone from being a radical fringe group to becoming the figureheads of a protest movement numbering tens of thousands.

The case against Pussy Riot was widely seen as serving as a warning to other protesters, as well as a means of appealing to Putin's deeply conservative base. A poll released on Friday by the Levada Centre, an independent pollster, found that 44% of Russians believed the case against the band was conducted in a just manner. Most of those polled also believed the case was initiated by groups linked to the Russian Orthodox church.

In a sign that the women might be released early in a bid to ease tensions and boost Russia's international image, the church released a statement late on Friday calling on the authorities to show mercy. "Without putting the correctness of the court's decision into any doubt, we call on the state authorities to show mercy to the convicts, within the framework of the law, in the hope that they will refrain from repeating blasphemous actions," the statement said.

Andrei Isayev, a high-ranking member of the ruling United Russia party, also spoke out against the verdict. "The verdict is harsh. The president still might take a decision. But nonetheless this verdict which, probably, will be taken negatively by some of our liberal intelligentsia, will be taken as just by a significant number of people."

Lawyers for the Pussy Riot trio have said they will appeal. A request for a pardon would require an admission of guilt, which the women have said they will not give.

Even some of Putin's loudest supporters called the verdict a mistake. Tina Kandelaki, a prominent media personality and Putin cheerleader, called the verdict and sentence "information suicide" and "wrong at its very roots".

"For some reason, from the very beginning, Putin's advisers gave the president a new 'Khodorkovsky'," she said, referring to jailed oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose arrest in 2003 signalled Putin's willingness to jail political critics, say critics.

"The millions of dollars of taxpayer money spent in the last few years on fixing the image of our country abroad have been thrown to the wind," she said. "Our image in the eyes of the world is getting closer to a medieval dictatorship, although in reality we are not that."

The case has deepened the rift that emerged in Russian society following the unexpected appearance of a mass protest movement against Putin's return to the presidency. Some in the opposition movement gave dire predictions of what lay ahead.

Referring to the performance art collective Voina ("War"), from which Pussy Riot emerged, opposition Duma deputy Dmitry Gudkov tweeted after the verdict: "So, there was the art group War, and now there will be real war. Idiots."

Condemnation also came from western capitals and human rights groups. The US state department said it was concerned by the ruling and urged the Kremlin to review the case. Former foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind said the verdict had done "real damage" to Russia's image internationally. "It creates an image of a neanderthal country which can imprison young people for indulging in silly pranks. It is a huge own goal. Putin will have alienated a large amount of Russian youth in the process."

Amnesty International called the verdict a "travesty". "[It] shows that the Russian authorities will stop at no end to suppress dissent and stifle civil society," Michelle Ringuette, of Amnesty, said in a statement. "Each step in the case has been an affront to human rights."