On 10 October, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich, the three detained members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot held on charges of ‘hooliganism motivated by religious hatred’ faced their second appeal hearing in Moscow. The hearing lasted approximately three hours and it was announced that the two-year jail term of band member Yekaterina Samutsevich was to be suspended, but that the sentences against her fellow defendants would be upheld. Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina, both of whom have young children, will now be required to serve out the remainder of their two-year sentences in prison colonies, possibly far from Moscow. We will be continuing to monitor developments in the case closely and to do whatever we can to support them over the coming months.
To help maintain awareness of their case ahead of the appeal hearing, we’ve been posting daily tributes to the band, in the form of some extraordinary poems and images, on our website. These pieces and many more were published as an anthology, CATECHISM: POEMS FOR PUSSY RIOT, to coincide with the first appeal hearing on 1 October. Both e-book and print on demand versions of the collection are now available, with all proceeds going to Pussy Riot’s legal fund and our Writers at Risk programme.
We are determined to keep their case in the public eye and will be continuing to post more Poems for Pussy Riot on our website. Please help us by downloading, reading, sharing, tweeting, translating and remixing the amazing work produced by our Poets for Pussy Riot.
The following contribution comes from poet Adrian Slatcher and is translated by Cat Paronjan.
‘Her Jazz’ for Pussy Riot
Sonic temples blasting out sound’s whiplash
across time and space; up close to the speaker stacks
at Manchester Boardwalk in, when was it, ‘93?
Listening to Huggy Bear play ‘Her Jazz,’
like a slow fuse burning across land and ocean,
bouncing off the satellites –
into a different consciousness, where the worst
a girl can do is pick up a guitar, put on a hood
and thrash our her version of her jazz –
under the unguarded eye of Mother Russia,
for music has the right to have children
and there they are, Riot Grrl prodigy,
rebels without a pause, waking up this morning
in a jailhouse-rocksteady-all-my-colours-
wop-bop-a-lu-bop-white-riot-kick-out-the-jams-
verse-chorus-verse silence
silence, but the noise outside is deafening.
Её джаз для Пусси Райoт
Храмы звука хлещут отголосками
по времени – пространству, прямо у колонок,
на улицах Манчестера, году, – когда же это было? – где-то в 93-м?
слушая, как Хагги Беар играл “Её джаз”.
Как медленно-горящий фитиль по суше и по морю тянется
и запускает спутники с земли
в сознание совсем другого рода, где в худшем случае,
девчoнка, нахлабучив капюшон, возмет гитару в руки
и выбьет из неё свою интерпретацию “Её джаза”,
под тем беспечным взором Матушки-России;
ведь музыке разрешено потомство,
и вот, они, талантливые дети Рaйот Гррл,
бунтари без передышки, сегодня просыпающиеся
под тюремным-рокстеди-все-цвета-мои-уоп-боп-а-лу-боп-белый-бунт-выкинь-коленца
куплет-припев-куплет тишина
тишина, а снаружи-то шум оглушительный.
TAKE ACTION FOR PUSSY RIOT
Send letters of appeal
- Expressing shock that the two year sentences against Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova have been upheld;
- Welcoming the suspended release on appeal of Ekaterina Samusevich, but noting that her freedom is not unconditional
- Pointing out that the harsh sentence is clearly in retaliation for the lyrics of the song performed by Pussy Riot members, containing language that is strongly critical of the Church and of President Putin in particular, and is this in breach of international conventions, specifically Article 19 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, to which Russia is a signatory;
- Therefore calling for the immediate and unconditional release of both Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova, and the complete dismissal of the charges against all three women.
You can send messages to President Putin via the Kremlin website or to the following address:
President Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
23, Ilyinka Street,
Moscow, 103132
Russia
His Excellency Dr Alexander Vladimirovich Yakovenko
6/7 Kensington Palace Gardens,
London,
W8 4QP
Fax: 020 7727 8625
Send messages of solidarity
Messages of solidarity to the prisoners can be sent via the FreePussyRiot website: www.freepussyriot.org