Russian prosecutor seeks 3-year jail terms for Pussy Riot trio
Maria Alyokhina (C), a member of the female punk band "Pussy Riot", is escorted by police before a court hearing in Moscow, August 6, 2012.
Image by: MAXIM SHEMETOV / REUTERS
Image by: MAXIM SHEMETOV / REUTERS
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (L) and Maria Alyokhina, members of female punk band "Pussy Riot", look out from the defendent's cell in a courtroom in Moscow July 30, 2012.
Image by: MAXIM SHEMETOV / REUTERS
Image by: MAXIM SHEMETOV / REUTERS
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of female punk band "Pussy Riot", is escorted by police as she arrives at a court in Moscow July 30, 2012.
Image by: MAXIM SHEMETOV / REUTERS
Image by: MAXIM SHEMETOV / REUTERS
Maria Alyokhina, a member of female punk band "Pussy Riot", waves as she is escorted by police to a court in Moscow July 30, 2012.
Image by: MAXIM SHEMETOV / REUTERS
Image by: MAXIM SHEMETOV / REUTERS
Pussy Riot sing at Lobnoye Mesto, once used for carrying out public executions, in Red Square in Moscow earlier this year.
Image by: DENIS SINYAKOV/REUTERS
Image by: DENIS SINYAKOV/REUTERS
A Russian state prosecutor asked a Moscow court on Tuesday to impose three-year jail sentences on three women from the Pussy Riot punk band who performed a "punk prayer" in a church.
"The actions of the accomplices clearly show religious hatred and enmity," state prosecutor Alexei Nikiforov said in closing arguments. "Using swear words in a church is an abuse of God."
Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, could have faced a maximum sentence of seven years for storming the altar of Moscow's main cathedral on Feb. 21 and belting out a "punk prayer" calling on the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Vladimir Putin, who is now president.
(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Writing by Timothy Heritage; Editing by Alissa de Carbonnel)
SHARE YOUR OPINION
If you have an opinion you would like to share on this article, please send us an e-mail to the Times LIVE iLIVE team. In the mean time, click here to view the Times LIVE iLIVE section.