MOSCOW - The website of a Moscow court that convicted three members of punk band Pussy Riot to two years in jail each for belting out a profanity-laced anti-Kremlin song inside a cathedral was hacked on Tuesday.
A slogan denouncing President Vladimir Putin was posted on
the site as was an appeal for the trio’s release along with a
video clip of one of the band’s latest anti-Putin songs and a
clip by Bulgarian singer Azis, local media reported.
The hack attack – claimed by AnonymousRussia, which says it
is affiliated with hacking activist group Anonymous – comes amid
a chorus of criticism of the sentences, which Western
governments and singers said were disproportionate and opponents
of Putin called part of a crackdown on dissent.
A screenshot posted by opposition activist Ilya Yashin on
Twitter showed the court’s web page topped by an inscription
reading: “Putin’s thieving gang is plundering our country! Wake
up, comrades!”
Another caption called for the release of the band’s jailed
members – Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Marina Alyokhina, 24, and
Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30.
The site of Moscow’s Khamovniki district court/
was operating normally by noon (0800 GMT) but its hacked
version was on display for several hours on Tuesday morning.
Darya Lyakh, a spokeswoman for the court, said a department
of the Supreme Court had asked federal investigators to look
into the hacking attack.
The high-profile trial ended on Friday with two-year
sentences for the three women who were convicted of hooliganism
motivated by religious hatred.
The judge said they had deliberately offended Russian
Orthodox believers by storming the altar of Moscow’s main
cathedral in February where they had sung a “punk prayer” urging
the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin.
The women said their aim had been to criticise close ties
between the state and the dominant Russian Orthodox Church,
whose leader offered support to Putin in the run-up to his
reelection to the presidency in March after four years as prime
minister.
The United States and the European Union called the
sentences disproportionate and Washington has urged Russian
authorities to “review” the case.
Human rights groups and musicians including Madonna and Paul
McCartney have also criticised the trial, but opinion polls
indicate few Russians sympathise with Pussy Riot and support
from local musicians has been muted.
On Monday, Russia police said they were searching for other
members of Pussy Riot and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
dismissed Western criticism of the sentences, saying people
should not “go into hysterics” about the case.
