Maria Alyokhina

Maria Vladimirovna Aljochina (Russian Мария Владимировна Алёхина; born 6 June 1988) is a Russian political activist and performance artist. She gained international fame as a member of Pussy Riot.

Life

With their arrest Aljochina was a student of the Institute of Journalism and Creative Writing in Moscow for the fourth year. As a long-time Greenpeace activist she has previously been involved in the protests against the now stopped motorway project Moscow - Saint Petersburg ( M11) should be cleared for the large parts of the Khimki Forest in the Moscow green belt. She is the mother of a son (* 2007).

Pussy Riot

Prior to the Russian presidential election of 2012 is Aljochina Since October 2011, an active member of Pussy Riot and participated in Putin - critical performance actions. To draw international attention, the group passed through the so-called " punk prayer " against the Russian Patriarch Kirill I and Vladimir Putin at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow on February 21, 2012.

Arrest and conviction

As a result of this action Aljochina was taken along with Nadezhda Tolokonnikowa and Yekaterina Samuzewitsch in custody. Against the three activists were charged with gross violation of public policy ( hooliganism ), by section 213 of the Criminal Code, Russian. After their lawyers only very limited access had been granted to the prosecution records, Aljochina and Tolokonnikowa went on a two-week hunger strike.

In July 2012, the investigation was completed and officially filed charges. On August 17, 2012, they were convicted of " hooliganism from religious hatred ", while the three activists on August 27, 2012 unsuccessfully appealed for.

Marija Aljochina explained in her closing argument:

" Annoys me very much if the prosecution of, so-called ' modern art speaks. During the trial of the poet Joseph Brodsky in the Soviet Union exactly the same thing happened. There was talk of so-called poems ' Brodsky. For me, this is a process, so-called ' process. And I 'm not afraid of you and before the judgment of this, so-called ' court. "

In addition:

"For me, this process has only the status of a so-called process. And I 'm not afraid of him. I 'm not afraid of lies and fictions, poorly decorated by deception as a so-called trial. Therefore, one can take my so-called freedom. And it is precisely this that now exists in Russia. But my inner freedom no one can take away. "

Despite ongoing solidarity rallies after the arrest and conviction of the presence of Pussy Riot in the Christ the Savior Church was negative by the majority in the Russian public and the court ruling evaluated mainly in agreement.

Worldwide, however, were made against the court proceedings and the judgment - protests from human rights organizations, politicians, and artists, including on July 23, 2013 open letter from 100 internationally renowned artists, who demanded the release of the activists.

The sentence of two years in a prison camp spent Marija Aljochina in a prison camp in Nizhny Novgorod, 400 km east of Moscow.

Review of the court judgment

The Supreme Court had beginning in December 2013 ordered a review of the judgments against the imprisonment of Marija Aljochina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikowa: The condition set out in sub-aspect "hate " had not been sufficiently proved ruled Russia's Supreme Court and referred the decision to the competent court in Moscow back. In addition, "neither the young age of the accused, nor their family situation or the violence of their actions into account " had been - Aljochina and Tolokonnikowa are mothers of young children, which under Russian law a reprieve would have been possible. "In addition, lacking a sound motive for the accusation. Thus, also voted the written version of the judgment not the courtroom picked in August 2012 verdict match. "

For Tolokonnikowa Aljochina and the arrangement of the Supreme Court was an important part of success after the Justice had repeatedly been accused of politically controlled arbitrariness. The Russian human rights ombudsman, Vladimir Petrovich Lukin, who had filed the complaint with the Supreme Court on behalf of the detained activists, and advocates of Pussy Riot therefore hoping for an early release of women.

Pardon and release

The Duma on December 17, 2013, before the Olympic Games in Sochi, discuss an amnesty for 25,000 prisoners in Russia, which resulted in the Pussy Riot activists should be left free, regardless of the Review of the court judgment. Official reason for the amnesty were the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution on December 12. Putin confirmed at a press conference on December 19, 2013, that the amnesty for the jailed Pussy Riot members applies; how fast it is being implemented, was first known. Pussy Riot, the Russian President said at the annual press conference: " You do not feel sorry that they have landed in a detention center, even if that's no good. I feel sorry that they ever have this monstrosity that profanes my view women committed. The amnesty was no review of the judgment, "said Putin. " Theoretically, you can come out today ," said Irina Chrunowa, the lawyer of Marija Aljochina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikowa, before the start of Putin's announcement. The members of the two activists traveled then to the respective penal camps.

On December 23, 2013 Aljochina was released a few hours before their fellow campaigner Nadezhda Tolokonnikowa, and met immediately with human rights activists.

Others

A Punk Prayer and the Russian Independent Production Pussy vs: Documents the preparations for the "Punk Prayer " and the process in the Russian-American documentary Pussy Riot have been. Putin, as well as in the feature film The Moscow Trials.