Members of the Russian president’s council on human rights, a prominent advisory body, on Friday slammed the legal basis for the jailing of three feminists from the Pussy Riot punk group for two years. “Society is far from indifferent when the criminal law is used for acts which, according to the law, are only administrative offences,” the council said in a signed statement, calling for “truth and mercy to prevail.” The young women were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after they performed a protest song against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s main Orthodox cathedral. Activists detained at unsanctioned political protests in Russia usually face non-criminal public order charges that are punished by a maximum 15 days in police cells. “This case also provokes other questions concerning the observation of the principles of free courts in a democratic, law-based country,” the council said in a strongly-worded statement posted on its website.
