Hackers took down the website of the Moscow court that sentenced punk rock band Pussy Riot to two years in prison Tuesday, replacing the homepage with an anti-Putin message and a video of one of the band’s performances.
Pussy Riot stormed the pulpit at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on Feb. 21, belting out a punk rock “prayer” to the virgin Mary to “put Putin away.”
On Aug. 17, Moscow’s Khamovniki district court convicted the three women—Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22; Marina Alyokhina, 24,;and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30—of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.”
The European Union and the United States declared the sentence “disproportionate.” Celebrities, including Madonna, Paul McCartney, and Björk, have thrown their support behind the women as well.
The court’s website was down until noon local time Tuesday, Reuters reported. The message read in Russian:
“Putin’s thieving gang is plundering our country! Wake up, comrades! We are American group Anonymous. We don’t forget and we don’t forgive. Justice system has to be transparent. Pussy [Riot’s members] are alive.”
A department of Russia’s Supreme Court has asked federal investigators to look into the case, a spokesperson told Reuters.
Photo via Wikipedia
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