Two murdered women have been found with the words "Free Pussy Riot" daubed on the wall, with the link between the killings and the imprisoned punk band seized on by Russian media.
The two women, aged 76 and 38, were killed late last week in their apartment in the central city of Kazan with the words “Free Pussy Riot”, reportedly written on the wall in English in blood.
A Russian investigator said the killer was possibly trying to mislead police by drawing attention to the feminist band, who have been imprisoned for two years each for a protest against president Vladimir Putin in a Russian cathedral.
Two women stabbed to death were found under this sign on the wall of their apartment in Kazan
Pussy Riot's lawyer Nikolai Polozo said on Twitter that “what happened in Kazan is horrible,” calling it “either a horrendous provocation or the work of a psychopathic.
“I am sorry that some freaks are using Pussy Riot’s band name."
The Russian tabloid Lifenews quoted an unnamed investigator as saying their faces and bodies were disfigured by multiple stab wounds.
Kazan investigator Andrey Sheptitsky said the murderer was either psychotic or a drug addict who was trying to cover up the crime by attributing it to the band’s supporters.
Feminist punk group Pussy Riot members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich during their trial in Moscow
AP reported that Kristina Potupchik, a pro-Putin blogger and former spokeswoman for a militant youth group known for its violent pranks against opposition and Kremlin critics, said in a post that the band's supporters "will not get away" after the killing.
She also compared them to US mass murderer Charles Manson, who also used the blood of his victims to write on the walls of their houses.