According to reports, the Russian feminist protest punk rock group Pussy Riot, shut down Trump Tower in New York for half an hour yesterday in protest for the release of political prisoners.
that Russian activists were working with their New York counterparts in their protest against the Russian regime.
The band asked Western supporters to join them but also criticised Westerners for focusing on ‘sexist bullshit’ instead of trying to work to free prisoners.
The activists hung banners saying ‘Free Senstov’ inside the Trump Tower hotel in reference to Oleg Senstov, a filmmaker from Ukraine who is currently behind bars in Russia. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison over charges of terrorism but his lawyers and other supporters have said that the charges were invented to silence him for criticizing Russia’s military actions in Crimea.
Amnesty International has said that the trial was ‘unfair’ and called for him to be released.
The band spoke out and said: ‘We’re calling on you today to raise attention to two guys from Ukraine: film director Oleg Sentsov and anarchist, Olexandr Kolchenko, who are in Russian prison right now. Senstov got 20 years and Kolchenko got 10 years, because they, like you, did not sit by – they were fighting for their freedom in Crimea, which was annexed by Putin.’
‘During the investigation in Russia Oleg Sentsov was tortured and two months ago, after our action, he was transported to a penal colony with some of the cruelest conditions in Russia. We decided to do an action right now, while we are in New York, with activists here because we believe there are no borders to our solidarity.’
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.