We the undersigned, urge in the strongest possible terms for your Excellency Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Dr. Georgiy Mamedov, to use whatever influence you may have to press your government for the immediate pardon of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samusevich, and Maria Aleckina, the wrongly convicted and imprisoned members of the musical group "Pussy Riot".
The Russian constitution, as well as the Canadian constitution and the USA constitution - which your Excellency knows well from having served as Ambassador there as well - rightfully guarantees free speech. It is very dismaying for free peoples the world over to see the "iron fist" re-emerge to crush free and legal speech in Russia.
Your Excellency, as a educated and well-respected man, you must also share our dismay at such an authoritarian act. Please, relay to your government the intense shock and dismay of the Canadian people at the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samusevich, and Maria Aleckina, and press for their immediate pardon and release from prison. Thank-you.