Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina are reportedly suing the Russian government in the European Court of Human Rights over their 2012 imprisonment, The Guardian reports (viaBillboard). They're each suing for120,000 (over $161,000) in compensation and 10,000 (over $13,000) in court fees, saying Russian officials' investigation and prosecution violated their rights and involved torture.
They argue that the Russian government violated four articles of theEuropean convention on human rights, including those that guarantee freedom of expression, liberty, security, and a fair trial, and those that prohibit torture. They're seeking to overturn their criminal conviction in Russia. If they win, they'll transfer compensation to human rights organizations,including their own prisoners rights NGO,Zona Prava.
Human rights legal group Agora are representingTolokonnikova and Alyokhina.Pavel Chikov, the head of Agora, toldThe Guardian that they're looking to the ECHR because the two women didn't receive a fair trial in Russia.
"Plus they want this case to set a precedent that Russians can speak publicly on sensitive political issues, even if this speech is not supported by majority," Chikov said. "This is a case about freedom of expression and fair trial first of all."
Below, watch Pussy Riot's 2012 performance at a Moscow church, which resulted in their nearly two-year prison terms for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred".
Revisit ourinterview with Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina.
