Pussy Riot and the Chess Champion

[jake-the-peg]

Gary Kasparov has just been arrested outside the court where the "Pussy Riot" women were just found guilty.

Video of him being dragged off in the middle of a TV interview- demanding to know why he was being arrested

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...world-africa-19300149

Anybody else think the Russians are doing their international image no good at all or is this a no-nonsense police force that knows how to keep law and order ?

[ludwig]

Russia hasn't really caught up with the civilised world yet despite all the changes. You still get people being imprisoned for criticising the leader, or injected with sedatives to shut them up if they say things that embarrass the government at press conferences, or being unceremoniously dragged off by uniformed thugs for the same thing.

Old habits die hard.

[Duncer]

The blogging rioter over here got his sentence reduced to two years, and his nickname very quickly became "Facebook". He was a very silly boy rather than a hardened criminal.

[Duncer]

Incidentally, having heard Pussy Riot sing, I'd say four years was light.

[DTCwordfan]

I am not condoning Kasparov and his action or otherwise, though I think it misguided.

Ichkeria, the age a law enters the system is irrelevant be it 2001, 1961, 1861 or 1361, it is the appropriateness. You are welcome to enter your local cathedral and sing a song against David Cameron, Nick Clegg or even Ed Milliband and then chant obscenties against the Queen, the Royal Family or your local bishop. As an aside, you are even welcome to cuss the Archbish of Canterbury - I am not his biggest fan, anything but.

I look forward, though, to reading about you your protest, charges, trial and sentence, not only in the Times and Telegraph, but also in AOG's bible, The Mail, and even Gromit's left wing rags. And also here; I can just imagine the brouhaha.

[Duncer]

Go on, I dare you..........

[DTCwordfan]

God, I wish Ichkeria would; probably thinks that Juliian Assuange doesn't have charges of rape to answer to in Sweden and that the UK and/or Sweden are going to have him extradited to face a death charge in the USA.

What gets me pizzed offff, and just for the record I am a liberalist, is the increasing tendency of the BBC and Press to assume one side and not present the facts of both sides. The Yates case in Bristol was an example of BBC and Press "hysteria" unjustly influencing the weight of opinions.

[Duncer]

I'm not taking any sides here DT, just being silly, although I was quite serious when I said PR sounded dire.

[ichkeria]

DTcrosswordfan: regarding the law quoted by Mike111111. Firstly I wonder if it's ever been enforced in the 150 years since its enactment. Second, sorry to repeat myself but it's a British law and irrelevant to Russia and thirdly it addresses an offence which is not the one involved in this case. So it's irrelevant. Sorry to disappoint you but I gave no intention of entering a cathedral and singing sings against Cameron etc. Yes it would cause a stir but it wouldn't bring a jail sentence because what law would I be breaking? Provided I caused no criminal damage or injured anyone. As Pussy Riot also did not. The difference is that in Russua wholly arbitrary charges can be trumped up at the whim of the government and enforced by the courts. It's called making it up as you go along I'm afraid.
As for your comments about the BBC are you watching? We've just had an interesting debate on Newsnight with Nekrasov, Berezovsky and Ana Matronic. So both sides of the story given there I think (Nekrasov being a big mouth for Putin of course)

[DTCwordfan]

ichkeria, it would be prosecutable under the The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006, enforceable as of Oct 2007. I have no idea of the stats of such enforcement and I don't care; it is the law in this country.

The parallel is that we have a law, as do most other countries, so why should Russia be singled out for taking legal action against such miscreants? I am not saying that I condone the force used or the show-casing of the trial, by the way.

I am glad if there was more balance on Newsnight but even you have to agree that there has been a tendency to present just one side of the argument in this case, perhaps influenced by musicians PR agencies.....and that is not right, be it Elton John or Putin's publicity wheels turning.

[DTCwordfan]

Sorry, i didn't explain but profanity in any UK religious institution is included in this Act, proposed and sanctioned by the Labour Party.

[FredPuli43]

mike, the maximum sentence for an offence under s36 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 is two year's imprisonment.

Which offence under it would these women have been committing?

Has the section been used in recent times? The Act is one of those magnificent pieces of Victorian legislation which provides separate offences for every conceivable way of committing a crime. It is largely obsolete.The wonder is that this section is still on the statute book.

[mike11111]

Largely obsolete? Try telling that to those who come running to this site for advice when they have been charged under s 20 or s 18.

[FredPuli43]

That's why I put 'largely' mike. The Act is also notable for its obsolete language, which is why judges have to explain what 'grievous' bodily harm means.

[anotheoldgit]

I think DTcrosswordfan has addressed this affair quit well when he mentions the BBC and the rest of the British media reporting on this, but why he has to drag my use of the Mail's website into it in such a sarcastic way (AOG's Bible) I just do not know, many on AnswerBank use the same web site but are not lampooned for it.

[anotheoldgit]

It is amazing that we are interfering in another's nations affairs such as this, yet no one has mentioned the more serious affair that took place in South Africa, I refer of course to the shooting and killings of the South African miners by their police.

[anotheoldgit]

And before I get off my soap box, if a group occupied a mosque in Britain and started preaching their own individual rhetoric in that place of worship, do you think that our authorities would not also take it very serious?

No it seems that some are very selective when it comes to condemning another nations actions, and that includes Madonna, Paul McCartney, or even Garry Kasparov.

I wonder why they are not so vocal in condemning what goes off in Middle Easter countries, could it be that maybe they are frightened of having a fatwā taken out against them?

[Gromit]

Nice to get a mention on a thread I had not contributed to DTCrosswordfan, even if it was an idiotic and inaccurate.

[Gromit]

Nice to get a mention on a thread I had not contributed to DTCrosswordfan, even if it was an idiotic and inaccurate one.

[DTCwordfan]

Oh diddums to both of you - can't take some mild sarcasm now......how sterile this site is becoming.

[Gromit]

DTCrosswordfan

F--K -FF
Clue: What you should do.