Three members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot has been sentenced to two years in jail for performing an improvised concert in Russia's Christ the Saviour Cathedral.
The performance took place on Feb 21, with the women wearing balaclavas and singing lyrics with the phrases to the Virgin Mary to get rid of Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Video below)
Russian authorities arrested Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Ekaterina Samutsevich back in March, and the trial started on July 30 under the charge of "hooliganism on grounds of religious hatred."
The detention of the women caused a worldwide furor with protest within Moscow and across three continents. Support for the women include singers Paul McCartney, Madonna, and Sting. Reuters also report that public opinion polls show Russians to sympathize with the rock band.
Amnesty International has long protested the detention, creating a petition and information about why the band's punishment is against freedom of speech.
"Amnesty International said it believed that the trial of the Pussy Riot defendants...was politically motivated, and that they were wrongfully prosecuted for what was a legitimate - if potentially offensive - protest action," said a statement from the human rights organization.
What Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich did was calculated to shock - and did shock many. But in sentencing them to two years' imprisonment, Russia has set the limits of freedom of expression in the wrong place," said Amnesty International's Director in Europe and Central Asia Program John Dalhuisen.
According to Reuters, the United States and the European have condemned the sentence as "disproportionate."
The maximum sentence for the women was seven years but was given the minimum two years.
“The girls' actions were sacrilegious, blasphemous and broke the church's rules," said Judge Marina Syrova, who presided over the trial and delivered the three-hour verdict on Aug. 17.
Protests reached a peak shortly after the verdict in cities in Bulgaria, Canada, England, France, Poland, Ukraine, and in New York City where a few were arrested.
The women have already served five months in prison, therefore only 19 months are left in their sentence. President Putin does have the ability to grant a pardon and set them free.
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