Topless woman stages Kyiv protest for Pussy Riot band
A bare-breasted Ukrainian activist carrying a chainsaw protested Friday in Kyiv in support of three women from a punk band who were convicted of hooliganism in Russia for an anti-government protest.
Other protests and rallies were expected to be held around the world in support of the Pussy Riot band members.
Dressed only in shorts and boots, Inna Shevchenko, with “Free Riot” written on her chest and an arm, sawed through a cross erected in memory of the victims of Stalin’s repression in Russia, an AFP photographer said.
Her protest began before a Moscow court on Friday announced a guilty verdict in the case of the three women who staged a protest in February against Russian President Vladimir Putin in a landmark church.
Her group Femen “expresses its support and solidarity with its Russian colleagues from the Pussy Riot band the day of the verdict” targeting them, the group said on its blog.
In Moscow, Judge Marina Syrova said the three band members whom she convicted had “carefully planned” their February 21 action inside the Christ the Saviour Cathedral.
She was expected to sentence them later with the prosecution seeking three years of corrective labour on the charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred charges.
Critics have condemned the stunt as a slap in the face of Russian Orthodox believers, while supporters including Western celebrities and foreign governments called on the Russian authorities to release the girls.
In the run-up to the verdict, Pussy Riot release rallies stretched from Sydney to New York with celebrities including ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and pop icon Madonna joining a campaign directed against Putin’s crackdown on most dissent.
Many are planned outside Russian consulates in European capitals later Friday.
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