Denounced Butscha massacre
Russian court sentences Pussy Riot activist
November 3rd, 2023, 1:50 p.m
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Pyotr Versilov is known as the co-founder of the Kremlin-critical punk band Pussy Riot. He also publicly denounces the war crimes committed by Russian soldiers in Bucha, Ukraine. In absentia, Versilov is now sentenced to a long prison sentence.
The Russian activist and performance artist Pyotr Versilov has been sentenced in absentia to eight and a half years in a prison camp for allegedly denigrating the army of his former homeland. Judge Natalia Dudar imposed the sentence on the 36-year-old co-founder of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot because Verzilov had denounced the wartime massacres of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, near Kiev.
Russia denies having anything to do with the killing of hundreds of civilians. Versilov, who also has Canadian citizenship, left Russia long before the war began. At the beginning of October, the activist announced that he had joined the Ukrainian defense fight against the invasion launched by Russia more than 20 months ago. He wanted to help Ukraine win against Russia, he said in an interview with Russian blogger Yuri Dud that has been viewed millions of times.
Because of the war effort in Ukraine, Versilov gave up his position as editor of the news portal Mediazona, which he founded, in order not to make himself vulnerable because of his support for Kiev. He explained that the portal should continue to stand for independent and impartial journalism. Versilov and his artist group Wojna (War) were for a long time one of the best-known political action artists in Russia.
The punk band Pussy Riot, which he co-founded, also became internationally known and has been denouncing Kremlin politics and the suppression of dissidents with harsh song lyrics and videos for years. The feminist band Pussy Riot has just released a new anti-war song and video entitled “Swan Lake” about the influence of the invasion on children, based on the motifs of the Russian ballet Swan Lake.