Kasparov arrested!

Does anyone know what the issues were in the Pussy Riot trial?  Did they have a defense?  Presumably since they were nabbed on the scene they couldn't say it wasn't them, so their defense could have been that it was them, but what they did wasn't a crime, or in the alternate, if it was a crime, that they had a legal or justifiable excuse for what they did.  Or some defendants (here in America anyway) will go to trial knowing they don't have a defense, but just go to trial anyway and hope for the best.

So does anyone know how this trial unfolded?

im glad he was arrested , chess should never be mixed with politics and he has been doing that for ages now .

He is retired from competitive-chess now I think @ iksarol

Politics is Kasparov's main-pursuit these days.

Even if he wasn't retired, being an activist against a national government is clearly not mixing chess and politics, and it is ludicruous to suggest that is what he is doing.

Hah.  Bobby Fischer was extremely political.  Karpov is now in the Russian legislature, I believe.  Howard Staunton was reputedly quite political and jingoistic and legend has it that he and two of his friends jumped up and sang the British national anthem at high volume after one of his wins over a French opponent.

Now the question is do you think that Kasparov was a fan of Pussy Riot before their arrest?  Or did he just see an opportunity arise to insert himself into a political controversy?

Personally, I heard that Kasparov was a huge fan of Pussy Riot even when he was World Champ.  I think he owns all their albums, including rare bootlegs and demo tapes.

I think he, like many others, is alarmed at the idea of throwing people in jail for two years because they protested in a church for thirty seconds.

Chess requires courage & bravery. 

Being forcibly-arrested by the police is at the very-minimum disconcerting. Whilst not wanting to take any political-sides I do admire Kasparov for his bravery & outspokenness.

I like him.

Nobody really knows what happened there that day. Sure people do have the right to peacefully protest. Hence the word peaceful. They are not allowed to block vehicular or pedestrian traffic. People here can blame a so called oppressive police force all they want. Its always a big uproar when people get arrested bc they feel their rights have been violated. Everybody claims they know their rights when in reality most people don't have a clue. Could kasparovs arrest have been unlawful? Sure. But most times a big conspiracy theory comes out just to mask the truth about what actually happened. And 99% of the time, the person that was arrested was wrong.

Have you read anything about what's going on in Russia?

I agree with @joeydvivre that police brutality is not the problem here. However it is a part of a larger problem. Let me attempt to reconstruct the lower level mechanics of the event from what I read in the eyewitness reports and see on the video.

1. The day when the sentence for the three women charged for “brutal violation of public order showing disrespect to society, that involved violence or a threat of violence or destruction of property (quoting the criminal code)” will be announced was known several days in advance. The case was widely discussed in national and world media.
2. Public gathered to protest in front of the courthouse on the day including people who support the women and groups of people who support their punishment. There was a risk of clashes between the two sides.
3. Riot police was brought in and stationed discretely in the vicinity of the courthouse.
4. Street police asked the public to leave the street, but the public did not comply.
5. Riot police was ordered to start dispersing the crowd.
6. According to the riot police tactics they have to first identify the leaders of the protesters and remove them from the scene.
7. The leaders of the protest if identified as such are subject to a large fine up to $10,000 and hours of public works.
8. Garry Kasparov previously attended opposition rallies and is a leader of United Civil Front, an NGO that participated in the organization of some of the rallies. It is likely that he was put on the list of people watched by the riot police. Other opposition leaders like Eduard Limonov or Boris Nemtsov were detained by the police prior to the rallies that they might attend which confirms that such a list does exist.
9. Reconnaissance officers identified Kasparov. An officer responsible for the operation ordered a squad of riot police to pick Kasparov out of the crowd and detain him on suspicion of organizing the protest.
10. Riot police is trained to avoid formalities and handle people with demonstrated brutality.

I believe that
1) [3] Was a misjudgement on the part of the city police and a provocation. Instead of forming a chain of uniformed officers to protect the courthouse they decided to let the crowd gather in order to disperse it later.
2) [5] Was a misapprehension of force since the protest was peaceful.
3) [6] Accordingly the riot police tactics was misapplied. It is clear to me that the protest outside of the courthouse was not organized and did not have any leaders.
4) [3], [10] The use of riot police against peaceful protesters is an overreaction and overuse of force. The officers who order to bring and apply riot police in such a fashion are responsible.
5) [8] is really bad for the freedom of speech and freedom of public gathering.
6) Police in Moscow is often overdoing it against peaceful civilians and underperforms against criminals which fosters criminal control over large parts of the city life and life of the country as a whole, Moscow being its capital.

I'd heard a little about draconian new Russian laws governing protest, but I didn't realise it was this awful!  What a world...

No..no..Plis!Plis i vont to see da pussies..

Net Gary ven we say move da pawn, vee did not mean dis kind.

Some nice drinking, lovely sex, should not be regarded as shameful, from humane, compassionate points of view, I guess.  Using a huge effort of the whole mankind (technology-Internet), exploiting the artistic interest of peaceful men around the world on chess, to stirr up hostilities and to disseminate hate propaganda, as many people on this topic does, is another reference of values. But there'll be always some reasonable counter-voices, trying to counterbalance such a push, with one additional advantage: these ones do not need to convince, to crush, to squash. Given the current "state of souls", it suffices to point out the lethal growth of hate madness. Someone not definitely insane will read the sparse and scarcely reasonable posts, reducing his/her feeling of absolute loneliness as a "refusenik" towards the ethics of hate.

Yes and the message is.. Do not advocate the disrespect of religion,the chances are they will kick your ass.

I do not disrespect religions. On the contrary: I advocate general tolerance, even toward religions. Pussy Riots are being accused of that. War, hate, on the other hand, has been, since long, connected to religion intolerance. Believe whatever you want and I'll respect it, without profanation of cemeteries, without insults to your temples, neither beliefs nor rites. Friend of religions, yes, but still more friend of truth: religious intolerance has killed legions of innocent people. Crusades, jihads and the like aren't more than personal misunderstandings of mine: you may count corpses for your own.

I was talking about Kasparov....But well said!

lolol.  Nice post joey.  Some people just like grabbing a thesaurus and rambling on because they love to hear themselves talk.  

Hands off, she-devil.  I saw him first.