Four members of the punk protest collective Pussy Riot have been sentenced to 15 days jail for entering the pitch during the final game of the World Cup between Croatia and France earlier this week.
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The four protesters took to the grounds during the 51st minute of the game dressed as Russian police officers, in an attempt to bring the country’s political and prison systems to the attention of the rest of the world.
Just after the demonstration, Pussy Riot released a video through YouTube and posted on their Facebook and Twitter about the protest and a list of demands for the Russian government including the release of political prisoners, ending unfair arrests at protest rallies and demonstrations, and ceasing the policing of social media behaviour by Russian citizens.
As reported by The Guardian, the four protesters were sentenced to 15 days in administrative jail for violating the law on behaviour by spectators at sporting events, and have been banned from attending sports events for the next three years.
Attention! The court has just sentenced the first Pussy Riot member, Veronica Nikulshina, with 15 days of administrative arrest (will spend them in a special prison) and banned her from visiting sports events. pic.twitter.com/e0hX5fQSzl
— 𝖕𝖚𝖘𝖘𝖞 𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖙💦 (@pussyrrriot) July 16, 2018
Pussy Riot has also announced in an interview with Cracked that the group will be releasing two new songs this week that explore incarceration and take inspiration from Russian chanson – a genre of ballad-style music known as ‘prison songs’, typically written by inmates of Russian prisons, and themed around incarceration and political imprisonment.
