Image Credit: Sergey Ponomarev/AP
The video of punk band Pussy Riot’s performance in Russia’s main cathedral is extremist and must be removed from the web, a Moscow court ruled Thursday.
Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky court banned the video of the group’s February performance, ordering it and three other videos to be removed from all websites. Prosecutors began looking into the Pussy Riot videos after a nationalist lawmaker suggested that they insulted believers.
The performance was protesting Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency in March’s election and the outspoken support for his bid by the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Pussy Riot’s videos were banned under Russia’s vaguely defined “extremism” law, which is supposed to restrict neo-Nazi and terrorist groups. Critics accuse the Kremlin of exploiting the law to stifle opposition and free speech. READ FULL STORY »
