[ExI] pussy riot case

[Mirco Romanato]

Il 19/08/2012 22:14, spike ha scritto:

Spike, what about the religious freedom angle?

The Pussy Riot group infringed on the freedom of the people peacefully 
assembled there to practice their religion.
More they infringed it in a place technically devoted to it specifically.

The law could appear harsh, but as the sources I linked in the other 
message, it is not so harsher than what could happen in the US, 
Australia, Finland, Italy. Often it just depend on the mood, sympathies 
and goals of the prosecutors and judges to not throw the full book at them.

The point of these laws is to protect some individual rights from others.

Now, if three people jumped on the stage where Madonna was performing, 
or would perform in a few minutes, in front of the people assembled to 
see Madonna and her performance, what would be the penalty for the US, 
Italian,  Australia, Russian, etc. laws?
What if they did it to protest against Obama, or against abortion 
clinics or whatever?

What if instead of one single episode, this become a trend? Disrupt 
public gatherings for the sake of obtaining exposure.

If you argue against prosecuting the Pussy Riot then you must argue 
against prosecuting any individual disturbing public meeting for its 
petty reasons.

About the penalty, we could argue it is too harsh or not. I think the 
severity is more linked to the desire of the lawmakers to protect the 
Churches and churchgoing people from harassment, like could happen in 
the old USSR.

A mild punishment is often a suggestion and an encouragement to repeat 
continue the same action.

Mirco