MOSCOW, September 13 (Itar-Tass) — Russia does not agree with the European Parliament’s resolution on the situation with human rights in this country, Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Thursday.
The resolution expressed the European Parliament’s concern over what it called a “disproportionate sentence” that a Moscow court issued last month to three participants of the Pussy Riot punk group detained in spring after an outrageous ‘action of protest’ in Moscow’s Cathedral of the Savior.
The three young women aged 22 to 30 years old, whom the court sentenced to two years in a general penal colony, took part in a ‘punk sermon’ in the cathedral – they jumped on to the solace in front of the alter and performed a mockery of a Christian prayer, jesting and shouting obscene words among other things.
International news media quoted the resolution claiming that “the Pussy Riot case adds to a recent rise of politically motivated intimidation and prosecution of opposition activists.”
The resolution urged the EU “to exert constant pressure on the Russian authorities to meet the OSCE standards on human rights, democracy, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary”.
“This is a resolution we can’t agree with,” Peskov said. “It isn’t exactly clear what sources of information the document relies on and what kind of analysis the European deputies used as the groundwork for their conclusions.”