(17 Aug 2012)
0:00:00
Three members of Pussy Riot punk band found guilty, demo and arrests outside court
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AP TELEVISION
Moscow, 17 Aug 2012
1. Wide of Pussy Riot members Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich being led down stairs towards courtroom
2. Various of Samutsevich, Alekhina and Tolokonnikova in glass cage in courtroom, police standing in front
3. Pan of Tolokonnikova, Alekhina and Samutsevich
4. Pan of courtroom
5. Various of Pussy Riot defendants
6. Exterior, mid of police detaining woman
STORYLINE:
A Russian judge found three members of the punk band Pussy Riot guilty of hooliganism on August 17th, in one of the most closely watched cases in recent Russian history.
The judge was still in the middle of reading a synopsis of the case, and a sentence was due to be handed down.
Meanwhile, police rounded up pro-Pussy Riot protesters, including former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, and leftist opposition group leader Sergei Udaltsov.
Hundreds of Pussy Riot supporters had filled a narrow street where the court is located, chanting "Russia without Putin!" amid heavy police presence.
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny said he was protesting for the future of Russian justice.
"Will we see in the future not just politically motivated trials, but open lawlessness? That bears as much relation to courts as the Inquisition does," he said.
Nearby, a group of supporters of the nationalist Liberal Democratic party (LDPR) held a sanctioned protest to demonstrate against the actions of Pussy Riot.
"The Russian Church is an Orthodox organisation that shouldn't be subject to speculative acts of protest; it should exist without this. So, nobody should commit any acts in churches or other buildings of this type," said LDPR activist Umnikov Anton.
"We have many other places and public squares to do that: Red Square and others. There you can make a performance without involving religion in any way," he added.
But not far from the LDRP protest, Pussy Riot supporter Viktor Zahkarov said the case was delving a severe blow to Russia's reputation and would harm the country financially.
"We can't talk about the investment climate now, because we don't have a simple judicial system. No one will invest in our country. Our government is digging itself into a hole," he said.
The three members of Pussy Riot were arrested in March after a guerrilla performance in Moscow's main cathedral calling for the Virgin Mary to protect Russia against Vladimir Putin, who was elected to a new term as Russia's president two weeks later.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23; Maria Alekhina, 24; and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, face a maximum seven years in prison, although the prosecutors asked for a three-year sentence.
Even if the women are sentenced only to time already served, the case has already strongly clouded Russia's esteem overseas and stoked the resentment of opposition partisans who have turned out in a series of massive rallies since last winter.
It also underlines the vast influence of the Russian Orthodox Church. Although church and state are formally separate, the church identifies itself as the heart of Russian national identity and critics say its strength effectively makes it a quasi-state entity.
Some Orthodox groups and many believers are urging strong punishment for an action they consider sacrilegious.
Celebrities including Paul McCartney, Madonna and Bjork have called for the band members to be freed, and protests timed to just before the verdict or soon afterward were planned in more than three dozen cities worldwide.
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