From The Guardian UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/dec/26/pussy-riot-protest-interview
In the latest in our series of interviews with newsmakers of 2012, Miriam Elder meets Yekaterina Samutsevich, one of the women whose punk protests as Pussy Riot electrified Russia
Miriam Elder in Moscow
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 26 December 2012
One year ago, Yekaterina Samutsevich was riding a euphoric high. Moscow had exploded in an unexpected storm of protest, as tens of thousands took to the streets to show their anger at Vladimir Putin‘s upcoming return to the presidency. Samutsevich and a group of friends went to protest dutifully – and returned home to don balaclavas and bright dresses for a secretly planned performance by their anti-Kremlin punk band, Pussy Riot.
“I had huge hopes,” Samutsevich said wistfully as she recalled those days during an interview in a Moscow cafe.
A year later, and although anger at Putin remains high, the spirit of protest that rocked the country has stalled. Also, two of Samutsevich’s best friends are in prison, far from the capital, far from their family, and far from the Kremlin that put them there.
The three band members – Samutsevich, Maria (Masha) Alyokhina and Nadezhda (Nadya) Tolokonnikova – rapidly shot to global prominence in the summer after performing an anti-Putin punk anthem in a Moscow cathedral. They were charged with “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and sentenced to two years in prison. Two months later, Samutsevich was let out on appeal after taking on a new lawyer who argued she should be set free since she was kicked out of the church before the performance.
She notes now with sadness that some accuse her of winning her freedom at the expense of her friends. Yet she feels no guilt – only the responsibility to speak for the friends who can’t speak for themselves.
“Now that I’ve been let out early, I can be here and free and speak in the name of the group,” Samutsevich said. “We took part in the trial and only we saw it from inside. Now I can tell everyone about that. Unfortunately Nadya and Masha can’t, since they’re in jail.”
Continue reading at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/dec/26/pussy-riot-protest-interview
