On February 21, 2012, a group of masked girls climbed the pulpit in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Here they began to dance and sing their so-called punk prayer. For this hooligan trick, the girls were detained and sent to a pre-trial detention center. This is how Russia learned about the Pussy Riot group. Today, the trial of a female punk band is watched, without exaggeration, by almost the entire country, which is divided into two camps: defenders of girls and those who believe that they need to go to jail.
The trick in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was far from the first in the track record of the girl group. On account of their participation in political and environmental actions, protection of other offenders, who, according to Pussy Riot, did a good deed in the fight against corruption, and a concert for those detained at protests after the elections to the State Duma on December 4, 2011. Its main difference was that the girls sang right in front of the pre-trial detention center.
None of their Pussy Riot events ended in punishment. And that time, when they went to Volkhonka, they also thought that they would get away with everything. However, it all ended extremely sadly for the offenders. At first, they were going to apply administrative punishment to them. However, given the massive discontent of Orthodox Christians and their statements about insulting all believers, the case was re-classified under a criminal article. Now the hooligans face up to 7 years in prison.
The case of the punk group was studied for a long 5 months, and on July 4, 2012, the first hearings began. Literally after the first meeting, everyone who expected the girls to be released was stunned by the news that they would remain in custody until at least mid-January 2013. And this is despite the fact that a number of members of the team have young children.
As part of the trial, ordinary people put forward their versions of what is happening. Some of them do not understand why the girls are kept behind bars for so long. After all, their actions do not fall under especially grave and grave articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Others believe that in this way Pussy Riot decided to punish both this and other offenses. But almost everyone is waiting for one thing - when will the punk group be forgiven by His Holiness Patriarch of All Russia Kirill himself.
In addition, this process was marked by a number of scandals. The group's defenders gather in front of the Tagansky court both on the days of preliminary hearings and on July 4, and organize demonstrations and spontaneous rallies there. After each meeting, supporters of the women's collective are transported to different police departments of the city of Moscow for proceedings. However, two actions in support of the team shocked those around them. They both took place in St. Petersburg. During one of them, in early July, in front of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, a 22-year-old girl was symbolically crucified on a cross, on whose head was wearing a knitted mask similar to those used by Pussy Riot. Another took place on July 23, 2012. A silent young man approached the Kazan Cathedral with a placard in support of the group. People who came closer to him could see that his mouth was sewn up with coarse threads. This is how one of the St. Petersburg artists Pyotr Pavlensky expressed his protest.
