The women of Pussy Riot, the Russian anti-Kremlin punk group, will have their message out in a new medium: an e-book. “PUSSY RIOT! A Punk Prayer for Freedom,†to be released in about two weeks by The Feminist Press, part of the City University of New York, will include previously unavailable material, including prison letters from the three Pussy Riot members who have been jailed for “hooliganism inciting religious hatred†after a brief performance in an Orthodox cathedral in Moscow. The book will also include statements by their defense attorneys, poems, and tributes from performers and artists including Yoko Ono, Karen Finley, and the poet Eileen Myles. Proceeds will go to the legal defense fund fo r the group.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Dmitri A. Medvedev said in Moscow that he believed the three women should be freed.
“Imprisonment is a very severe - I would even say a frightening - responsibility,†Mr. Medvedev said. “What has already happened - that this well-known group of girls have been in prison quite a long time - is a very serious punishment for everything they did, regardless of the sentence.†He added that he did not approve of their stunt, an anti-Kremlin song which he said made him sick, but emphasized that the six months they have already served was punishment enough. Experts in Russian politics said it was not clear whether Mr. Medvedev's comments would carry much weight, though the case has turned into an international embarrassment for the Kremlin.
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