Pussy Riot: From zero to hero

The members of the notorious punk band Pussy Riot staged their action at Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior themselves. No one masterminded the infamous act, Ekaterina Samutsevich stated after her release Wednesday. "Our act at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior had no instigators," she said in an interview with Interfax.

Samutsevich explained that the band was working on the do-it-all-yourself principle. Meanwhile, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, who are still jailed, wrote a letter, which stated that an activist of art group "Voina" Pyotr Verzilov "quasi-fraudulently occupied the activities of Pussy Riot."

"All the participants are authors of the band. We have no instigators, no organizers and no producers," Samutsevich told Interfax. She stated that the band did not receive any money from anyone for its acts.

Previously, there were a number of theories proposed about those standing behind the activities of the notorious band. In September, for example, it was said that the act at the Moscow cathedral was organized by disgraced oligarch Boris Berezovsky.

Ekaterina Samutsevich told Interfax that she would be helping her two friends, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, who remained behind bars. "I will try to raise money for the girls and bring them food and other things," she said.

Pussy Riot is not going to stop its activities; new acts are quite possible in the future, Samutsevich said. She reminded that the members of the band never announce their actions, nor do they share their plans about the scheduled appearances with anyone.

She noted that she had not contacted two other girls, who took part in the "punk prayer service" in the Moscow Cathedral and remained free. She does not know whether those two girls would be willing to perform in the band in the future.

Ekaterina Samutsevich also expressed her desire to join the opposition movement and participate in protest actions. "I would like to take part in all this, I do not want to sit at home, I'll support it, but I will act more carefully and I will not be throwing stones," she told Interfax.

She also said that she intended to comply with the obligations imposed upon her by the court. "First off, I have not committed any crimes before. I can not say that I'm a criminal person, so I'll just live the way I lived," said Samutsevich.

The released woman added that she was "feeling normal" and had already met and talked to her father and family. "The first thing I did when I was released - I had a very good sleep," she added.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, who remain jailed, cracked down on an activist of art group "Voina" ("War"), Pyotr Verzilov. "He quasi-fraudulently occupied the activities of the band," the girls wrote in their letter.

"I officially announce that Pyotr Verzilov is not a representative or the owner of any role in Pussy Riot," Tolokonnikova wrote about the man who is her husband. According to her, Verzilov regularly misleads the media by stating that he supposedly coordinates with her the statements that he makes for the press.

"These allegations are lies that are made for obtaining the status of the primary and legal representative of Pussy Riot, which, in fact, he is not," wrote Tolokonnikova.

"After our arrest, he took the representation of Pussy Riot in his hands. Nobody could do this according to the ideology of the band. Legitimately, only a girl in balaclava can represent the band. In addition, the position of a producer / promoter / organizer is not provided in the anti-hierarchic punk group. All attempts to take such positions are treacherous towards punk and Pussy Riot," the letter from Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova reads.

On October 10^th, the Judicial Chamber for Criminal Cases of the Moscow City Court commuted the sentence of Ekaterina Samutsevich. The court replaced the real punishment for probation. The sentence against two other members of the band was recognized legal and was left unchanged. Ekaterina Samutsevich was released an hour after the court session.

After the trial, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina were sent back to the detention center. Representatives of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) reported that the women would not be left at the Moscow detention center. They would be escorted to a colony, where they will serve their sentence.