Moscow, Aug 28 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Defence lawyers for Russian all-female punk band Pussy Riot have appealed the court verdict under which three members of the band were jailed.
Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Maria Alyokhina, 24, were sentenced to prison for two years for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.
Along with other members of the band, the three in February performed a “punk prayer” near the altar of Christ the Savior Cathedral urging the Virgin Mary to “redeem” Russia from Vladimir Putin.
Moscow’s Khamovnichesky court handed down the jail terms for all three women Aug 17.
Lawyers for Pussy Riot said they have filed a short version of the appeal and are preparing an extended one to be lodged later.
The defence team claimed in court that Pussy Riot’s performance was in protest against the church’s support for Putin ahead of the March 4 presidential elections that returned him to the Kremlin.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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