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Russian Church: OK, Free Pussy Riot

If they repent for their 'punk prayer'

By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 30, 2012 6:55 AM CDT

(Newser) – The Russian Orthodox Church is again getting in on the Pussy Riot controversy, today reversing course and urging clemency for the imprisoned punk rockers if they repent for their "punk prayer," reports the AP. The church issued a statement today—a day before the women are set to make their first appeal in their two-year prison sentence—saying that if they show "penitence and reconsideration of their action," then they "shouldn't be left unnoticed." The church, which was the site of the punk rockers' protest, had previously insisted they should be prosecuted for their "blasphemous" conduct.

Deacon Sergei Baranov in Tambov, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012. Baranov became the first Russian Orthodox cleric to quit in protest over the Pussy Riot case.
Deacon Sergei Baranov in Tambov, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012. Baranov became the first Russian Orthodox cleric to quit in protest over the Pussy Riot case.   (AP Photo/Laura Mills)
A police officer walks outside a bus before it departs for a city tour supporting the female punk protest group Pussy Riot in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 31, 2012.
A police officer walks outside a bus before it departs for a city tour supporting the female punk protest group Pussy Riot in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 31, 2012.   (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)
Maria Alyokhina of Pussy Riot is escorted to a courtroom in Moscow, Thursday, April 19, 2012.
Maria Alyokhina of Pussy Riot is escorted to a courtroom in Moscow, Thursday, April 19, 2012.   (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)
Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, members of Pussy Riot, sit behind bars at a court room in Moscow, Monday, July 30, 2012.
Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, members of Pussy Riot, sit behind bars at a court room in Moscow, Monday, July 30, 2012.   (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 9 comments
iliosellas
Oct 1, 2012 6:16 AM CDT
 Please help promote this link wherever you can; if you believe in freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Julian Assange for the Nobel prize for freedom of the press: www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Julian_Assange_for_Nobel_prize_Freedom_of_the_Press/ Lets see how "Noble" the Norwegians and their righteous Swede neighbors are or claim to be, since they offered Obama the Nobel peace prize!
reallybig
Oct 1, 2012 12:42 AM CDT
For some manly reason, the thought of "Free Pussy" riots, turn me on.....
jagerhans
Sep 30, 2012 5:01 PM CDT
priests must die.
 

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