Well, no matter how things change, they still stay the same. As the documentary Never Sorry: Ai Weiwei shows in vivid detail, despite the economic expansion in the People's Republic, freedom of speech and criticism of governmental institutions remains a no-no. And now from our Free Market Goombahs in the East, a Russian court has sentenced the three young women of the punk band Pussy Riot to 2 years in prison. Since they've already been in stir for 5 months, for the crime of hooliganism (which definitely sounds like something from the Soviet, pre-Glasnost, legal canon). Basically the girls terrorized and Eastern Orthodox Church service by running to the alter dressed in colorful ski masks and skirts. Just Pussy Riot, ; no indication they were carrying Kalashnikov, Glocks or any other weapons. After the grueling trial in which they were imprisoned, silence of the lambs, or Manson (that's Charles, not Marilyn) -style in a glass cube (wow, really? sounds like a scene from Rollerball or something), the girls (excuse me, women) were sentenced to the full two years and as you can see from the video below, giggled and smirked as the sentences were read.
Although Western musicians have spoken out on their behalf, the judge was harsh in her ruling and the band evidently doesn't enjoy wide support among the Russian population, although sadly, the stiff sentence does.
Mr. Putin indicated that while he did not look kindly on their behavior, he hoped their sentence would not be too severe. There's no indication whether, having made their point, good ol' Vlad, the Russian government and the courts will be able to see their way to commute the sentence to time served.
More on Pussy Riot as fashion statement from DITHOB's fave, T Magazine here
And the report from Reuters on this very unfortunate sentencing here