Friday, August 17, 2012

State of Democracy in Russia

In February 2004, Khursheda Sultanova, a 9 year old girl was brutally murdered by neo-Nazis who stabbed her repeatedly. When the individuals were finally brought to trial, they were charged not with murder, but will hooliganism. Their sentence upon conviction ranged from 18 months to 5 years; the teenager who killed Khursheda received 18 months.

In February 2012, members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot protested the increasing authoritarianism of Vladamir Putin's Russia with an improvised performance in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour that was critical of both Putin and the Russian Patriarch, Kirill I. They were also charged with hooliganism when arrested and subjected to a show trial. Their sentence upon conviction was 2 years in prison.

In Putin's Russia, the murder of child is treated on par with criticizing the president and Orthodox Church.

Free Pussy Riot!

3 comments:

Tom Winnicki said...

So you're pro free speech now???

Didn't know about Khursheda Sultanova, but if you bring that up you should also write about the murder of the Viana family in South Africa.

Kurt Phillips said...

Oh, Tommy. It looks like you don't bother reading to see if we've responded to you:

http://anti-racistcanada.blogspot.ca/2012/08/photos-of-wade-michael-page.html?showComment=1344393992848#c5678567750321764211

But for your sake, here's what we wrote there:

"Absolutely Tomasz. The murder of that child and his family were barbarous and the men who committed the crime need to rot in prison.

What? Did you think that we were okay with murder so long as the victims were white? Of course you did.

I know it might shock you to hear this, but we think ANYONE who commits a act such as this against any person needs to be punished severely. It doesn't matter if the victim is white, or black, or Asian, or Hispanic, just as it doesn't matter what the ethnicity of the accused is.

With that in mind then, Tomasz, we are interested in knowing if you would condemn the action of these Russian skinheads who have just been convicted in a string of murders:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8632760/Evil-Russian-neo-Nazi-gang-convicted-of-27-murders.html "

Anonymous said...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2012/08/17/calgary-mariani-murder-trial-date.html