Conquer Club

thegreekdog wrote:Is this real? Normally/usually, police on camera would attempt to actually make an arrest if they started beating the alleged criminals. They don't even seem to try to arrest these women. It was more like "Hey, you can't do that here, let's beat you until you leave."

JoshyBoy wrote:

thegreekdog wrote:Is this real? Normally/usually, police on camera would attempt to actually make an arrest if they started beating the alleged criminals. They don't even seem to try to arrest these women. It was more like "Hey, you can't do that here, let's beat you until you leave."

Are you suggesting it was staged? PR stunt? That's a bold suggestion. Interesting.

thegreekdog wrote:Is this real? Normally/usually, police on camera would attempt to actually make an arrest if they started beating the alleged criminals. They don't even seem to try to arrest these women. It was more like "Hey, you can't do that here, let's beat you until you leave."

DoomYoshi wrote:I'm not even sure I understand why they are being beaten in this video. Is wearing ugly dresses illegal in Sochi?

saxitoxin wrote:Can someone actually name a Pussy Riot song? Have they ever performed a concert in a place where tickets are sold? I almost think the Cossacks should have held back for 5 minutes so everyone could see they don't actually know how to play the instruments they're lugging around.

mrswdk wrote:A bunch of other members of the 'Pussy Riot collective' have written an open letter expressing that the the women in OP's video are no longer members of Pussy Riot. Whatever their reasons for doing so, this means that the above video is not a video of 'Pussy Riot'. It is just two women deliberately creating a stink and getting roughed up by security goons as a result, which is exactly what they wanted anyway and so is hard to feel too much outrage about.

wikipedia wrote:Internal disputes

In a letter from prison after their sentences were upheld, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina disowned the actions of Tolokonnikova's husband, Verzilov, accusing him of having co-opted Pussy Riot by acting as its frontman without their consent: "His statements are lies, in the name of giving himself the status of the founder and legal representative of Pussy Riot, when in fact, he is not. Actually, Pyotr Verzilov has occupied Pussy Riot through this strange, quasi-fraudulent activity. As a representative of the group, I am outraged."[136][137] Samutsevich expressed surprise at the letter, while Verzilov declined to comment, saying "I do not understand it. We are going to find out what happened".[138] The previous week, Verzilov himself had released a statement to the Echo of Moscow radio station, stating that he was neither a member nor a representative of Pussy Riot.[139]

A trademark dispute arose in October and November 2012, when it was discovered that the group's defense attorney, Mark Feygin, had attempted to register "Pussy Riot" as a trademarked brand name in Russia. On April 6, 2012, Feygin applied to Rospatent without the knowledge of his clients, seeking to assign the brand to a company owned by his wife, Natalia Kharitanova-Feygin. This would give them exclusive rights to produce Pussy Riot-branded products.[140] Furthermore, Kharitanova-Feygin has already received an advance payment of 30,000 euros to produce a film about the Pussy Riot trial, with an additional 170,000 euros payable upon completion of the contract, and 40 percent of the profits of worldwide sales of videos. The trademark application was rejected by Rospatent,[141] leaving the ultimate fate of the Pussy Riot brand, estimated without promotion to be worth USD $1 million,[142] undecided.

On 19 November, Feygin and the two other original lawyers for Pussy Riot withdrew from the case prior to Tolokonnikova's appeal, stating that they felt the court would be more likely to grant the appeal if the three were no longer a part of the defense.[143] Samutsevich criticized the original legal team for allegedly using the trial for personal publicity rather than securing the release of the defendants.[144] On 21 November, Samutsevich's lawyer told the press that Samutsevich was considering requesting that Feygin and the other original lawyers be disbarred for failing to return her passport and other belongings.[145] Feygin responded via Twitter that Samutsevich was part of a "defamation campaign organized by the authorities", while another member of the legal team, Violeta Volkova, responded that the claims were "part of an agreement that allowed her to break free of the case".[145] On 21 January 2013, Feygin, Volkova, and Nicholas Polozov filed suit against Khrunova and Kommersant for defamation.[146]

In a letter dated February 1, 2013 and published by her father on the Echo of Moscow web site, Tolokonnikova distanced herself from Samutsevich, saying "Samutsevich hasn't written to me for two months. That's it, to me she is already dead. There will be no more talk of collaborating after this."[147]

saxitoxin wrote:The U.S. is working overtime to try to embarrass Russia but is just bumbling at every turn.

Sergei Markov wrote:"If it were not for Putin’s gentle democratic rule, the Cossacks would have torn the Pussy Riot girls into little pieces. It’s only Putin’s sense of discipline that is saving their lives."