Is there ever a form of protest that Putin does not like to prosecute? Does not seem so.
Only a week ago, a strange spectacle met people who transited the famous Red Square. In the frigid winter weather, a naked man had nailed his scrotum to the stoney floor.
Of course this type of sacrifice, which many have compared to self immolation, was done to highlight the plight of persecuted people in Russia, of any stripe, and against the current climate of repression of any form of speech that does not meet Putin's approval.
Not to disappoint, Putin swiftly retailed against the widely broadcast act, by slapping the naked perpetrator with a hooliganism charge, which if it sticks, will mean a similar fate to the one that befell the singers of Pussy Riot. The protester in question, would face exactly the same length of imprisonment as the three girls who sang a protest song inside a church in Moscow.
Although the protester was immediately removed, cleaned up, treated and released, due to an apparent lack of consistency in the police paperwork, which had already charged him with some offence, he was sent back to St. Peterburg with the intention of removing him from the inquiring press. Notwithstanding the judge's decision who released him, Putin has ordered that the man be tried under the hooliganism charge.
Anyone who attracts any international attention is bound for the same fate. It is not the act, but the exposure it gains. The man who nailed himself to the floor of the Red Square had attempted other similar feats of self flagellation in May and at other times, but this time, his picture was broadcast worldwide. Had he remained anonymous, and his act not been revealed outside of Russia, he might still have a chance for freedom.
Source : France 24/ 11.15.13
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