RUSSIA : 3 For Moscow: Ombudsman Calls Pussy Riot Verdict 'Excessive'; Putin Counts On Orthodox Support; May Protest Detainees Still Suffer Police Abuse.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/23/entertainment-us-russia-pussyriot-idUSBRE87L0WT20120823

      Daily visitors to this newsblog from Russia have ranked #2 for several months...though there have been recent spurts of viewers from Canada...and Germany.
      Here are 3 recent articles from the English language press that may interest Putin opponents.

     Russian human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin...called the 2 year prison sentences for 3 punk members of Pussy Riot...'excessive'...and liable to fan dangerous internal tensions.
      Lukin...a former ambassador to the USA...was nominated for his post by Putin.
      He even threatened to challenge the sentences if appeals fails.

    AND: A nationalistic group...Holy Rus...has promised to patrol Moscow's streets and punish blasphemers. 
     They were seen crowding before the building where the Pussy Riot trial was held.
     The author believes Putin is using the Orthodox Church followers as 'an ideological glue to secure his political survival'...as his last bastion of diehard followers.
http://world.time.com/2012/08/23/pussy-riot-trial-unleashes-putins-secret-weapon-the-orthodox-faithful

     PLUS: Police intimidation of Putin's opposition persists. 
     Those arrested in May protests still suffer from insults and harassment.
     The GUARDIAN describes one woman's ongoing experience.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/23/pussy-riot-russia-opposition-intimidation