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Anti-Putin Hackers Seize Moscow Court\'s Web Site, Posting Calls to \'Free Pussy Riot\'

By ILYA MOUZYKANTSKII and ROBERT MACKEY

MOSCOW - Hackers briefly seized control Monday of the Web site of the Moscow district court that sentenced three members of the feminist protest band Pussy Riot to two years in a penal colony last week.

For three hours on Tuesday morning, Khamovnichesky Court's usually static Web site was enlivened with a recording of the new Pussy Riot song, “Putin Is Lighting the Fires of Revolution,” and an embedded copy of a music video for a song called “Hate,” by the Bulgarian gay icon Azis. The video was described as “a rather sleazy and erotic gay clip,” by the Russian news site Gazeta. A headline across the top of the site read, “Putin's Thieving Gang Is Robbing Our Country! Wake Up, Comrades!”

The site's navigation tabs were altered and other text was added to display slogans including, “Free Pussy Riot,” and, “Judges â€" I'd have executed them all.”

A video report on the hacking by the Russian business news channel RBC showed a message from the hackers in which they claimed to be part “American Anonymous,” referring to a loose collective of hackers (not usually identified as American) known for revenge attacks on the Web sites of organizations and states perceived as enemies of free speech.

According to a BBC News report, the hackers also wrote: “We don't forget and we don't forgive,” and, “The justice system has to be transparent.”

The hackers were apparently encouraged to attack the site early on Tuesday by an anonymous user of the Web forum 2ch - the Russian equivalent of the message board 4chan. At 6:17 a.m., a message was posted on the board with the login and password information needed to access the Web site's back end, along with a username and password that granted access to the court's e-mail inbox.

Within minutes, gleeful 2ch users began posting screenshots o f their progress in defacing the hacked Web site and discussing what video might be the most (in)appropriate to display.

Soon, a Twitter account linked to the Russian arm of Anonymous posted a link to archived copies of messages apparently taken from one of the court's e-mail inboxes. An analysis of the archive by the Moscow bureau of The New York Times shows that the vast majority of the 487 messages were e-mails sent to the court from users of the Web site change.org. Last week the site promised to deliver a “Free Pussy Riot!” petition signed by more than 136,000 people to the court and to officials including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Officials regained control of the site later on Tuesday and Darya Lyakh, a spokeswoman for the court, told the Russian news agency Interfax that the hacking had been carried out “by people with bad imaginations.”

One of Pussy Riot's lawyers, Mark Feygin, wrote on Twitter, “Of course I do not approve of hac king attacks, but cannot hide genuine admiration for the daredevils from Anonymous daredevils. If they arrest them, I will defend them.”

Ilya Mouzykantskii reported from Moscow and Robert Mackey from New York.