Russian Court Tries to Ban All Online Videos of Pussy Riot
A court in Moscow ruled today that the anti-Kremlin punk band Pussy Riot are "extremists" and that any website that continues to host video clips shot by and of them should be blocked. That would presumably include YouTube, where dozens of videos of the band—like the infamous "Punk Prayer"—continue to circulate. The judge in the Russian district court even read out the IP addresses of offending websites, threatening to shut them down completely if they don't comply with the verdict. The ruling would also include restrictions on the band's official webpage and LiveJournal blog.
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Two of the group's members, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, were given two-year prison sentences for "hooliganism," after filming a mock concert inside a Orthodox Christian church. A third, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was also convicted, but later released on appeal. One government witness testified that videos, including one of an anti-Vladmir Putin song performed in Red Square, were “a disguised call to organize mass riots."
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The band did get some good news this week, though. The Sundance Film Festival announced that its lineup for next year will include a documentary about Pussy Riot and their trial. They were also included as long shot candidates for Time's Person of the Year, even if their theoretical rival—"a disarmingly direct, red-cheeked, 20-year-old Putin supporter" pop star—got profiled in The New York Times.
