VOA慢速英語:Anti-Putin Punk Rockers Await Judge's Verdict

[ti:Anti-Putin Punk Rockers Await Judge's Verdict] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:IN THE NEWS] [00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. [00:12.89]Next Friday, a judge in Moscow plans to [00:15.88]announce her decision in the trial of [00:20.42]three young women in a feminist punk rock band. [00:25.27]The musicians are accused of hooliganism [00:29.01]and religious hatred. The women burst into [00:32.61]Moscow's main Orthodox church in February. [00:35.30]They were dressed in short skirts [00:38.79]and wore brightly colored balaclavas [00:42.64]over their heads. They performed a one-minute [00:46.13]"punk prayer" calling on the Virgin Mary [00:48.93]to drive away Vladimir Putin. [00:53.72]Two weeks later Russians returned Mr. Putin [00:57.95]to the presidency, electing him to a third term. [01:03.30]The band members are Nadezhda Tolokonnilkova, [01:09.27]Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich. [01:12.57]They could spend up to seven years in prison [01:14.99]if found guilty of the charges. [01:19.64]But government prosecutors have asked [01:22.31]the court for a three-year sentence. [01:26.37]Church leaders have demanded harsh punishment. [01:30.10]Only seventeen percent of Russians [01:34.58]who were asked in a Levada Center opinion poll [01:37.19]said they supported that idea. [01:41.55]Last week President Putin criticized [01:43.97]what the women did, but asked [01:47.39]that they not be judged "too harshly." [01:50.51]Defense lawyer Mark Feigin, [01:53.12]during closing arguments this week, [01:57.41]said the women's act should not even be judged [01:59.54]in a criminal court. [02:07.38]He says it was a political act -- [02:11.75]a protest against a totalitarian state, [02:15.86]Vladimir Putin and a discriminatory system [02:18.04]that denies justice. [02:22.95]The band members pleaded not guilty to the charges, [02:27.37]but they apologized to Orthodox Christian believers. [02:32.03]The women said they did not mean to offend anyone -- [02:35.52]a claim rejected by the government. [02:41.43]Nadezhda Tolokonnilkova told the court [02:43.67]that they are good people [02:46.59]and should be allowed to say what they want. [02:51.94]Maria Alyokhina, in a statement read by her lawyer, [02:54.30]spoke of a generation gap [02:56.42]opening between young people [02:59.72]and Russia's political and religious leaders. [03:04.69]Musicians around the world are protesting the trial. [03:07.68]Madonna expressed support for the band -- [03:10.60]and even wore a balaclava -- [03:13.46]while performing this week in Moscow. [03:15.64]MADONNA: " Obviously, I believe in freedom of speech [03:17.63]and I am against censorship, [03:22.56]so I hope that the judge is lenient [03:25.49]with them and they are freed soon. [03:26.44]That would be great." [03:29.37]The women have been in jail since March. [03:32.85]Two of them are mothers of young children. [03:36.58]As president again, Vladimir Putin [03:39.57]has signed a series of new laws [03:42.99]restricting freedom of speech and assembly. [03:46.47]Fines for unapproved protests [03:48.65]have been sharply increased. [03:52.45]In some cases they amount to more than [03:55.68]an average Russian earns in a year. [04:00.28]Alexander Lebedev is a Russian billionaire [04:02.77]active in democratic politics. [04:05.70]He linked the punk rocker case [04:08.93]to the expected prosecution of blogger [04:12.04]and opposition leader Alexei Navalny. [04:13.78]ALEXANDER LEBEDEV: "I suddenly understood [04:15.47]from actually the Navalny case, [04:16.71]which is fully fabricated -- [04:17.89]same as with these girls -- [04:19.70]there is only politics nothing else. [04:22.81]It's just a kind of copy of the sixties." [04:30.14]At a recent protest demonstration in downtown Moscow, [04:32.81]the loudest chants were for [04:34.80]the freedom of the punk group. [04:40.15]And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. [04:41.83]I'm Steve Ember.

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