There's A Riot Going On

Pussy Riot Found Guilty Of “Hooliganism”

A Russian court has found three members of the the punk band Pussy Riot guilty of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred,” after the rockers staged a protest performance in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral earlier this year.

The case against Maria Alekhina, Ekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has garnered international attention with fellow musicians including Madonna, Paul McCartney and the Scissor Sisters showing their support, while human rights groups condemned their detainment .

The February 21 performance included references to Russia’s persecuted LGBT community with the line “Gay pride sent to Siberia in chains.”

Though the trio, who are awaiting sentencing, was initially facing a seven-year sentence, prosecutors are aiming for a three-year prison term. The verdict from the Russian court reads as follows:

“The Pussy Riot singers colluded under unestablished circumstances, for the purpose of offensively violating public peace in a sign of flagrant disrespect for citizens.

“Intending to make the planned actions public and ensure that they drew public response to draw the attention of the public to their illegal actions, and to communicate the expressed disrespect not only to the clergy and people in the church, but also to other citizens who were not present in the church at the time [of the punk prayer], but shared Orthodox traditions, Samutsevich, Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina, and their unidentified accomplice informed various media assistants and active bloggers on their action.”

And to see what all the international hubub is about, here’s the video of their political punk protest:

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