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Russia

Pussy Riot Sentenced To Two Years In Prison For *Hooliganism*

THE GUARDIAN (UK), THE MOSCOW TIMES (Russia)

Worldcrunch

On Friday, the three members of Russian punk-band Pussy Riot were found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" and sentenced to two years in prison.

Judge Marina Syrova said the defendants had "crudely undermined social order" when they staged an impromptu performance in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on February 21.

Moscow correspondents for the Guardian reported that the three women, Tolokonnikova, Alekhina and Samutsevich, remained calm and defiant throughout the verdict hearing.

Judge says "men and women have equal rights and freedoms" under Russian constitution. Women nod and laugh.

— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) August 17, 2012

Expectedly, supporters of the three young women have clashed with police outside the courtroom in Moscow with arrests being made, including Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov.

This is the police wrestling with Garry Kasparov inside the paddy van. Are they beating him? twitter.com/obk/status/236…

— Olaf Koens (@obk) August 17, 2012

People on balcony opposite court playing punk music really loud and throwing balaclavas off balcony

— Ilya Mouzykantskii (@ilyamuz) August 17, 2012

The feminist collective has earned worldwide support from fellow performers and human rights advocates. On Friday, street protests sprung up in at least 54 cities worldwide, reports the Moscow Times.

In case anyone has forgotten, this is Pussy Riot's now infamous "punk prayer" calling to "throw Putin out." An act that results in two years in prison in Putin's Russia:

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Geopolitics

Senegal's Democratic Unrest And The Ghosts Of French Colonialism

The violence that erupted following the sentencing of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison left 16 people dead and 500 arrested. This reveals deep fractures in Senegalese democracy that has traces to France's colonial past.

Image of Senegalese ​Protesters celebrating Sonko being set free by the court, March 2021

Protesters celebrate Sonko being set free by the court, March 2021

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — For a long time, Senegal had the glowing image of one of Africa's rare democracies. The reality was more complicated than that, even in the days of the poet-president Léopold Sedar Senghor, who also had his dark side.

But for years, the country has been moving down what Senegalese intellectual Felwine Sarr describes as the "gentle slope of... the weakening and corrosion of the gains of Senegalese democracy."

This has been demonstrated once again over the last few days, with a wave of violence that has left 16 people dead, 500 arrested, the internet censored, and a tense situation with troubling consequences. The trigger? The sentencing last Thursday of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison, which could exclude him from the 2024 presidential elections.

Young people took to the streets when the verdict was announced, accusing the justice system of having become a political tool. Ousmane Sonko had been accused of rape but was convicted of "corruption of youth," a change that rendered the decision incomprehensible.

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