Regardless of whether or not you have any interest in the international punk rock landscape, if you’re a reader of newspapers, you’re probably familiar with Pussy Riot. Three members of the all-female Russian punk band were jailed back in March, following a so-called “flash performance” on February 21 at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral, during which the group shouted an anti-Putin “punk prayer.” (See video below.)

All three women have since been convicted and sentenced to two years in prison on the basis of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.

According to a Pitchfork article about the controversy, “Amnesty International declared Pussy Riot ‘prisoners of conscience,’ and noted they faced the danger of being sent to labor camps where they would be at risk of physical and sexual abuse.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pitchfork is now reporting that Pussy Riot will be releasing “an e-book through Feminist Press called Pussy Riot! A Punk Prayer for Freedom. It will include letters from jail, translated courtroom statements, and tributes written by [artists including] Yoko Ono, JD Samson and Johanna Fateman of Le Tigre, Karen Finley, Justin Vivian Bond, and Eileen Myles. Proceeds from the book, which will be available on September 21 at FeministPress.org, will go to support Pussy Riot’s legal defense.”

The e-book will set you back just $2.99, and will be available in both MOBI and EPUB formats. According to Feminist Press (which is affiliated with CUNY, the City University of New York), the “e-book will be available on September 25 at your favorite e-book store.”

For more info about the e-book and the case itself, read this brief New York Times blog post.

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Video | The February 21 performance at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral that led to the arrest and subsequent conviction of three members of Pussy Riot:

Video | As a way to thank their many supporters, members of the band made the following video:

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