Moscow court sentences five Pussy Riot members in absentia for anti-war video

A court in Moscow has sentenced five members of Russian punk group Pussy Riot in absentia to prison sentences of between 8 and 13 years, independent news outlet SOTAvision reported on Monday.

Maria Alyokhina, Diana Burkot, Taso Pletner, Olga Borisova and Alina Petrova, all of whom live outside Russia and were not in court to answer the charges against them, were all found guilty of spreading “false information” about the Russian military. 

Prosecutors cited the video accompanying their anti-war song Mama, Don’t Watch TV as evidence, as well as their protest action at Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne museum in April 2024, during which they chanted anti-war slogans and called Vladimir Putin a war criminal, while one group member urinated on his portrait.

Alyokhina, who is widely known for her conviction in 2012 for her “punk prayer” performance with fellow Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, received the longest sentence of 13 years. Pletner was sentenced to 11 years in prison, while Borisova, Petrova and Burkot each received eight years.

The Pussy Riot account on X published a statement by Burkot, who said she had written the music and performed the chants in the video, stressing that she stood by “every single word”.

She added that while rapists and murderers in Russia receive sentences of three to four years, often spending less than a year in prison before signing a military contract to fight in Ukraine, activists “receive monstrous sentences for their opinions”.

Burkot said that she was fortunate to be outside of the country, concluding: “Even if I were in Russia, I would say the same thing: go fuck yourself.”