'Free Pussy Riot' Written in Blood Over Bodies of Murdered Women in Russia
Russian authorities have reported that two women were found murdered in their Kazan apartment with the words "Free Pussy Riot" written, "presumably" in blood, on the wall.
"The words 'Free Pussy Riot', presumably written in blood, were found at the scene of the crime, on the walls of the flat," Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement issued Wednesday evening, as reported by the Guardian.
Investigators have not yet determined if the substance used to write the message "Free Pussy Riot" was actual blood.
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Although many suggested that the unidentified killer of the two women, ages 76 and 38, was a supporter of the infamous punk band, one investigator suggested that the killer was attempting to mislead police by deflecting the attention to Pussy Riot.
According to The Associated Press, Russian investigator Andrey Sheptitsky told Russian news agencies that the killer, which he described as either a psychotic or a drug addict, was "trying to avoid suspicion" by misleading police with an allegiance to the band.
The attorney for Pussy Riot has also told Russian news agencies that the killer is simply using the band's name, but has no real connection to them.
This is just one of several examples of how the controversial court case of the feminist punk band "Pussy Riot" has manifested itself in everyday Russian culture, polarizing those who support the three female members of the band and those who disapprove of their behavior.
In another case involving Pussy Riot, Interfax news agency reported that Orthodox Christians attacked the Erotic Art Museum in central Moscow on Aug. 29.
"Today the Orthodox militants punish us for our support for Pussy Riot, send us death threats and rip clothes off ordinary passers-by, and tomorrow they will start destroying churches of other religious denominations and slay atheists," museum director Alexander Donskoy wrote on his Facebook page.
Pussy Riot is known for staging protest performances critical of Russia's government and religion in unconventional places.
This month, three of the band's members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich, and Maria Alekhina were sentenced to two years imprisonment for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" after they criticized President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox religion in Moscow's main cathedral.
There remains extreme contention between those supporting Pussy Riot and their protest and those arguing that they desecrated the country and the country's religion.
