Pussy Riot takes the upper hand against Russia in the decision of the European Court of Human Rights: NPR

The activist and punk-musician collective Pussy Riot won Tuesday an important, though largely symbolic, victory in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). This decision follows the arrest of four of its members who were sentenced on June 16 for rushing into the field during the World Cup final when they were dressed as police officers. Russian. Almost simultaneously with the announcement of the decision on Tuesday, the group released a new song and video related to its Sunday demonstration at the World Cup.

Arrest and conviction in February 2012 of three other members of Pussy Riot for organizing a "Punk Prayer" demonstration at Cathedral of Christ the Savior of Moscow

According to the ECHR, the three women of Pussy Riot arrested for action – Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda "Nadya" Tolokonnikova – were imprisoned "for simply wearing brightly colored clothes , waving their arms and kicking them and using strong language, without badyzing the lyrics of their song or the context of their performance. " In addition, the court found that the Russian authorities "gave only stereotypical reasons" for detaining women for five months while awaiting trial, prevented them from communicating with their lawyers and treated them harshly – including included in a glbad cage surrounded by armed police and a watchdog, during the trial. The ECHR also found that Russia banned women's videos online without justification.

The ECHR ordered Russia to pay about $ 57,000 in damages to Alyokhina, Tolokonnikova and Samutsevich. (Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova served 22 months of their sentence, Samutsevich's sentence was suspended.) In a statement released on Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Justice declared that the European decision was not yet in force and that the decision could be challenged within three months

The decision of the European court coincides with the release of a new song and video that Pussy Riot calls "Track About Good Cop. " In its timing and content, "Track About Good Cop" follows the protest of the World Cup, which the group calls "Policeman Enters The Game"; both also borrow a metaphor from the late Russian poet Dimitri Prigov about a morally right law officer.

The song was written by a producer named CHAIKA and probably the most famous member of Pussy Riot, Nadya Tolokonnikova.

According to a press release released Tuesday by the group, songwriters behind "Track About Good Cop" dream of an "alternative political reality in which instead of arresting activists and putting them on In jail, the cops join the activists The world where the cops were getting rid of homophobia, stopped the war on drugs and understood that it was better to be happy and kind to people. "

The lyrics also include references to articles The Russian penal code that refers to drugs, terrorism charges, the placement of people in psychiatric hospitals and the "public insults of a representative of the power". Through a publicist, Pussy Riot told NPR that these articles are specifically used by the government against activists.

With the release of "Track About Good Cop", Pussy Riot issued nine requests from the Russian government on Tuesday. Some repeat calls the group made on Sunday, including asking the government to stop jailing people for "I like" social media and to share and make arrests during political rallies. Others are new, including asking the government to release the four members of Pussy Riot – Olga Pahtusova, Olga Kuracheva, Nika Nikulshina, Peter Verzilov – is currently serving 15-day sentences for their disruption of the Cup final of the world. (The name of Pahtusova has also been widely transliterated as "Pakhtusova.")

The collective also demands the release of all political prisoners, including the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who was sentenced in 2015 to 20 years of conspiracy attacks. Among those who have spoken out about Sentsov's condemnation and captivity are French President Emmanuel Macron, writer Stephen King journalist Christiane Amanpour and German filmmaker Wim Wenders. The claims also include the annulment of Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Incitement to hatred or hostility, as well as the lowering of human dignity"), which Pussy Riot calls "one of the main political criminal articles" Russian federal laws. stop imprisoning a large number of people for drug-related offenses.

Pussy Riot also asks for the general freedom of speech and expression in Russia; a national television channel to give the group's own media, Mediazona, and the government to "stop f ****** with Navalny", an apparent reference to the lawyer and prominent critic of Putin Alexei Navalny, a Leader of the Russian Opposition.