Pussy Riot Lawyers Reject TV Offer For Public Apology
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — Lawyers for the three jailed members of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot have rejected an offer for the women to apologize on state television for performing a song insulting President Vladimir Putin inside an Orthodox church.
Managers of the nationally broadcast television program “Man And Law” offered to put the three women on the air so they could apologize for their offense.
In exchange, the show’s management said, television executives would push for a reduction of the two-year jail terms received by the women.
Lawyer Nikolai Polozov said on September 3 that Pussy Riot rejected what he described as an “offensive” offer, and still intended to appeal the trial decision in court.
The trio were found guilty last month of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” over their February performance in a Moscow cathedral.
