Miss Russia apologizes to Pussy Riot.
"I graduated from a Sunday school, and a place of worship is sacred to me," declared Elmira Abdrazakova, who was crowned Miss Russia 2013 earlier this month. "But still, their punishment is too harsh," she said, referring to the band members who were arrested for protesting in a church.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Miss Russia 2013 said on Saturday that the sentencing of the rock band Pussy Riot to two years in prison for their protest performance in a Moscow cathedral was too harsh a punishment.
Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, were sent to prison in August after holding an anti-Kremlin "prayer" in February of last year at Moscow's main Russian Orthodox cathedral.
"I graduated from a Sunday school, and a place of worship is sacred to me," declared Elmira Abdrazakova, elected Miss Russia 2013 earlier this month, in an interview with the radio station Russkaya Sluzhba Novostei. "But still, her punishment is very harsh."
Despite a number of artists, writers, celebrities, and even politicians defending the band, the majority of President Vladimir Putin's supporters backed the conviction of Pussy Riot.
Nearly 60 percent of Putin's voters considered the sentence fair, and 53 percent of all Russians agreed with the decision, according to the Moscow-based Public Opinion Foundation.
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is dominant in the country and an ally of the Kremlin, described the performance as a coordinated attack aimed at preventing the revival of the church in post-Soviet Russia.
In October, Putin called the sentence fair, although on Thursday he declined to comment on whether the women should be released.
The election of 18-year-old Abdrazakova as Miss Russia caused some controversy in the country, as her mother is of Russian ethnicity but her father is Tatar. She suggested that working to change the group members' worldview might have been a better option.
Samutsevich has already been released from prison, but Alyokhina's request was denied. Tolokonnikova filed a request this week to be released, according to Russian media.
Western governments and prominent figures, such as pop singer Madonna and Myanmar's democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, have called for the release of the band members.
Abdrazakova's statement endorses comments by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who said he found the performance offensive but believes they should be released.
(By Lidia Kelly)