Dear Representative Lofgren,
As you may be probably aware (see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pussy_Riot), a group of young women in Moscow are in a rather big trouble. These three women went on Feb. 21 to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and chanted anti-Putin prayers. They were later arrested and will stay in prison until at least 2013, while the prosecutors are trying to come up with legal grounds for their accusation (so far the accusation is mostly based on some religious rules dating several hundred years, of which nobody even heard before, and taking into account that Russia, formally, is not a clerical state...)
There is a gradually growing movement to help these three women, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich, who are still in jail.
I am not sure what kind of support You as a representative can provide, but I'd like You to be aware of their plight, and if anything can be done on their behalf, any impact would be appreciated.
Best regards,
-Vlad Patryshev
(408) 7688721