Madonna to introduce Pussy Riot at Amnesty concert

Pop icon Madonna said Wednesday she will introduce to the stage two formerly jailed members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot when they appear at an Amnesty International concert in New York next week, hailing the pair as 'fellow freedom fighters.'

Maria Alyokhina, 25, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 24, will speak at the concert organized by the human rights group on February 5 during their first trip to New York since being granted amnesty in December by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

They became international were symbols of human rights campaigners after being jailed in Russia for nearly two years.

'I am honored to introduce my fellow freedom fighters Masha and Nadya from Pussy Riot. I have admired their courage and have long supported their commitment and the sacrifices they have made in the name of free of expression and human rights,' Madonna said in a statement after posting the news on her Facebook page.

Amnesty announced that the pair, who were convicted in 2012 of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after storming Moscow's biggest cathedral and beseeching the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin, would attend the concert earlier this month. A third Pussy Riot member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was freed when a judge suspended her sentence on appeal.

American alternative rock group Imagine Dragons, the Flaming Lips and R&B singer Lauryn Hill will perform at the Bringing Human Rights Home concert at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The event will resume a global concert series that Nobel Peace Prize-winning Amnesty International began 25 years ago, featuring rock greats such as U2, Bruce Springsteen, Sting and Lou Reed.

From Reuters Via Yahoo! News

Comments

[Jim]

I'm pleased to hear about this, and I'm glad that they will be meeting each other, even if only briefly.

Jim

[Andy Gandy]

Oh God, Please Madonna.

Don't jump on every stupid bandwagon that carries freedom label on it. This is not you Madonna or is it????????

Dare to do something about the political prison camps in the US and Israel. Or Are they off limit for you to talk about??????

It has just become a silly trend for people to criticise the Russian government(because that is what the media and the politics in the US want now, because president Putin did not want to vote for America to bomb Syria, he wanted solid proof which the American media and government did not have, all the proof that they had came from al-Kaida rebels that were armed by the American Government)without knowing all the facts. This is not enlightenment or educating people against bigotry, it is just a stupid media thing.

Take a good look at overcrowded prisons in the USA, much more close to home before pointing fingers at countries and governments that you don't even know. You have been hanging around Hillary Clinton and Obama type of crowds for too long. You are beginning to even look like them sometimes. They just use high profile artists like you to push their own Agendas.

Dear Madonna go back and revisit lower east side. Maybe you get freshened up a little. Get back your spunk and anti establishment aura. Now you are acting like one of the rest.

I am sorry Madonna, It must be either this fan (32 years/ as a teenager and as an adult) waking up or you sliding down towards being one of the crowd of artists who pretend that they are humanitarians when they don't even know anything significant about the issue they are talking about or the wagon they jump on. It saddens me that you jump on the stage with pop tarts who are way below you and endorse people like pussy riots. What do you really know about Russia, its history, its culture, its people, their modes and what they consider to be freedom?????????????? Have you ever thought that they may think something other than you do?

Pussy riots are just an opportunistic band whom thanks to people like you, are now practicing disinformation.

Amnesty international sounds too pop now. They have done some positive things in the past. But they have shown their true colors and sponsors by limiting their criticism of the western governments about the human rights violations in the west by the west, in the USA by the USA.

I am looking forward to your next album.

I want the bright eyed melodic spiritual, groovy deep and informed Madonna back.

If it is duets wit the likes of milly or caga supported by stupid pussyy riot amnesty pr and crowded Grammy show, full of duds and tarts. Then I am going to pass on it and hang up my fan shoes.

With love and respect for all the art goods and fun times in the past,
from Andy