Worldwide protests after prison sentences for Russian punk trio

Human rights activists in the UK have joined worldwide protests over sentences given to three members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, jailed for two years each on hooliganism charges.

Campaigners claimed the prosecution of the feminist rockers was politically driven, saying they were prisoners of conscience.

Hundreds of Pussy Riot supporters chanted “Russia without Putin!” amid a heavy police presence outside the Moscow courtroom yesterday, and several opposition leaders were detained.

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Crowds of banner-waving supporters also protested outside Russia’s embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens, London, and masked demonstrators took to in O’Connell Street, Dublin’s main thoroughfare and Edinburgh, where a further protest will take place today.

The three were arrested in March after an unauthorised performance in Moscow’s main cathedral, high-kicking and dancing while singing a “punk prayer” pleading the Virgin Mary to save Russia from Vladimir Putin, who was elected to a third new term as Russia’s president two weeks later.

Judge Marina Syrova said in her verdict the three women “committed hooliganism driven by religious hatred” and offended religious believers. She rejected their arguments that they were protesting at the Orthodox Church’s support for Mr Putin and did not want to hurt the feelings of believers.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich stood in handcuffs in a glass cage in the courtroom for three hours as the judge read the verdict. They smiled sadly at the testimony of prosecution witnesses accusing them of sacrilege and “devilish dances” in church.

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The three women remained calm after the judge announced the sentence, while someone in the courtroom shouted “Shame!”

The charges carried the maximum penalty of seven years in prison, although prosecutors had asked for a three-year sentence.

Mr Putin himself had said the band members should not be judged too harshly, drawing expectations they could be sentenced to the time they already have spent in custody and freed in courtroom.

Sceptics had warned, however, that a mild sentence would look as if Mr Putin was bowing to public pressure – something he has clearly resented throughout his 12-year rule.

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On the street outside, police rounded up a few dozen protesters, including former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who is a leading opposition activist, and Left-wing opposition group leader Sergei Udaltsov.

Amnesty International strongly condemned the court’s ruling, calling it a “bitter blow” for freedom of expression in Russia.

The Pussy Riot case has already has inflicted bruising damage to Russia’s reputation overseas and stoked the resentment of opposition partisans who have turned out in a series of massive rallies since last winter.

It also has underlined the vast influence of the Russian Orthodox Church. Although church and state are formally separate, the church identifies itself as the heart of Russian national identity and critics say its strength effectively makes it a quasi-state entity.

Some Orthodox groups and many believers had urged strong punishment for an action they considered blasphemous.

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