August 7, 2012

Madonna lent her considerable celebrity to the cause for releasing the jailed members of the punk band Pussy Riot in Moscow tonight.

via The Guardian:

Supporters of feminist punk band Pussy Riot say they hope three band members threatened with harsh jail sentences can avoid jail after Madonna used a concert in Moscow to condemn their persecution.

Prosecutors on Tuesday called for the three women – Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich – to be jailed for three years after arguing they had insulted all of Russian Orthodoxy and posed a danger to society. They have been charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after performing a "punk prayer" against President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral.

Performing in Moscow's Olimpisky Stadium on Tuesday night, Madonna donned a balaclava and stripped off her clothes to reveal the words "Pussy Riot" scrawled across her back during a performance of her 1984 hit Like a Virgin.

She was the latest in a long list of global stars who have come out to support the trio.

"I know there are many sides to every story, and I mean no disrespect to the church or the government, but I think these girls … have done something courageous and they have paid the price for this act and I pray for their freedom," Madonna said earlier in the show to massive applause. "They deserve the right to be free."

madonna-pussy-riot-p.jpg

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon