Pussy Riot linked to Russian murder as "Free Pussy Riot" is found scrawled (in blood?) at the scene

“Free Pussy Riot” scrawled at Russian Murder scene

A surreal and shocking twist/footnote to the ongoing Pussy Riot saga in Russia:

Moscow (CNN) — Police in Russia are investigating the murder of two women found under a slogan backing the female punk rock band Pussy Riot, apparently written in the victims’ blood, officials said Thursday.

The words “Free Pussy Riot” were scrawled in English on the apartment wall above the bodies of a 76-year-old woman and her 38-year-old daughter, investigators in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan said in a statement.

The two women, who shared a home, are thought to have died of numerous stab wounds between August 24 and 26 in the city of Kazan, the Tatarstan investigative committee said.

Their bodies were found Wednesday.

An investigation has been launched to uncover the circumstances of the crime, as well as those responsible and their motive, the statement said.

The murder inquiry comes two weeks after a court in Moscow sentenced three members of Pussy Riot to two years’ imprisonment, a conviction and verdict that prompted international condemnation.

The three women were found guilty of hooliganism for performing a song critical of President Vladimir Putin in one of the Russian Orthodox Church’s most important cathedrals.

Representatives of the jailed band members rejected the supposed link between Pussy Riot and the double murder in Kazan.

“I just found out about the incident in Kazan. Either it’s a terrible provocation…Or psychiatry,” Violetta Volkova, a lawyer for Pussy Riot, tweeted.

Those responsible “need to be found and punished,” she said. – [CNN]

Meanwhile, three of Pussy Riot’s members are serving a two year sentence for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” after they attended Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral and staged a political protest against the election of Vladimir Putin. The other two have fled Russia.