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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
PAGE 3A
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NEWS OF THE WORLD
Associated Press
EUROPE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pussy Riot member walks free
Feminist punk group Pussy Riot members, from left, Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alekhina, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOSCOW — One jailed member of the punk band Pussy Riot unexpectedly walked free from a Moscow courtroom, but the other two now head toward a harsh punishment for their irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin: a penal colony.
The split ruling by the appeals court Wednesday added further controversy to a case that has been seized upon in the West as a symbol of Putin's intensifying crackdown on dissent.
All three women were convicted in August of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years in prison. They argued in court on Wednesday that their impromptu performance inside Moscow's main cathedral in February was political in nature and not an attack on religion.
the performance.
The Moscow City Court ruled that Yekaterina Samutsevich's sentence should be suspended because she was thrown out of the cathedral by guards before she could remove her guitar from its case and thus did not take part in
If the Kremlin's plan was to create a riff in the trio by letting just one band member go, it didn't seem to work.
The two other defendants squealed with joy and hugged Samutsevich before she was led from the courtroom to be mobbed by friends and journalists waiting outside on the street.
Dressed in neon-colored dresses and tights, with homemade balacavas on their heads, the band members performed a "punk prayer" asking the Virgin Mary to save Russia from Putin as he headed into a March election that would hand him a third term.
"If we unintentionally offended any believers with our actions, we express our apologies," said Samutsevich, who along with Maria Alekhina and Nadehda Tolokonnikova spoke in court Wednesday from inside a glass cage known colloquially as the "aquarium."
Both the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church would like to see an end to a case that has caused international outrage, but they would hate to be seen as caving to pressure. As much as anything, the release of Samutsevich is viewed as a reward for her decision this month to drop defense lawyers who had antagonized the Kremlin with their politicized statements.
"The idea of the protest was political, not religious," Samutsevich said. "In this and in previous protests we acted against the current government of the president, and against the Russian Orthodox Church as an institution of the Russian government, against the political comments of the Russian patriarch. Exactly because of this I don't consider that I committed a crime."
AFRICA
Questionable painting declassified
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's Film and Publication Board Wednesday declassified a painting showing the genitals of President Jacob Zuma.
The board's spokesman, Prince Milandela Ndamase, said that artist Brett Murray "The Spear"
which outraged supporters of President Zuma when it was displayed early this year at Johannes-
burg's Goodman Gallery — is no longer deemed offensive to public taste.
The painting was widely seen by supporters of Zuma as a racist attack on his polygamous ways. But Murray, responding to a High Court case brought by Zuma, who sought to censor the artwork, said in an affidavit that it was part of a show criticizing the ANC for alleged greed and corruption. He also said that details of Zuma's sex life had become part of the public debate in South Africa.
The review board "has set aside the classification decision" after meeting about two weeks ago to review the painting, which was first displayed in May, said Ndamase.
The painting was condemned by the ruling ANC and Zuma himself in court documents that the artwork undermined his constitutional right to dignity. But the gallery and the artist countered that freedom of expression was at stake, too.
The painting was later taken down after two men defaced it with paint, claiming they were acting independently of each other in defense of Zuma. It was not immediately possible to get a comment from the Goodman Gallery or Murray after the declassification decision.
ASIA
Pakistani schools hold vigil for girl
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISLAMABAD — Schools shut their doors in protest and Pakistanis across the country held vigils Wednesday to pray for a 14-year-old girl who was shot by a Taliban gunman after daring to advocate education for girls and criticize the militant group.
The shooting of Malala Yousufzai on Tuesday in the town of Mingora in the volatile Swat Valley horrified Pakistanis across the religious, political and ethnic spectrum. Many in the country hoped the attack and the outrage it has sparked will be a turning point in Pakistan's longrunning battle against the Taliban, which still enjoys considerable public support for fighting U.S. forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
A Taliban gunman walked up to a bus taking children home from school and shot Malala in the head and neck. Another girl on the bus was also wounded. Pictures of the vehicle showed bloodstained seats where the girls were sitting.
Malala appeared to be out of immediate danger after doctors
operated on her early Wednesday to remove a bullet lodged in her neck. But she remained in intensive care at a hospital in the northwestern city of Peshawar, and Pakistan's Interior Minister said the next 48 hours would be crucial.
Small rallies and prayer sessions were held for her in Mingora, the eastern city of Lahore, the southern port city of Karachi and the capital of Islamabad. In newspapers, on TV and in social media forums, Pakistanis voiced their disgust with the attack, and expressed their admiration for a girl who spoke out against the Taliban when few dared.
Even the country's top military officer, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, condemned the shooting and visited the Peshawar hospital to check on the teenager.
"In attacking Malala, the terrorist have failed to grasp that she is not only an individual, but an icon of courage and hope who vindicates the great sacrifices that the people of Swat and the nation gave, for wresting the valley from the scourge of terrorism," he said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Supporters of Pakistani political party Muttahidaqa Qaumi Movement (MQM), chant prayers in support of 14-year-old schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai, who was shot on Tuesday by the Taliban for speaking out in support of education for women.