Pussy Riot jail terms condemned as 'disproportionate'
Orthodox Church leader's support for Mr Putin
The US, EU and human rights groups have
condemned jail sentences imposed on three
members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot
over an anti-Vladimir Putin protest in a
Moscow cathedral.
The women were sentenced to two years in prison
for hooliganism.
The US and EU said the sentences were
disproportionate. Amnesty International said they
must be overturned.
Russia's Orthodox Church said the protest was a
"blasphemy" but also appealed for clemency for the
women.
The sentences were handed down in Moscow by
Judge Marina Syrova, who found Maria Alyokhina,
24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina
Samutsevich, 29, guilty of hooliganism motivated
by religious hatred.
She said they had "crudely undermined social
order".
The women said their protest, in the Christ the
Saviour Cathedral in February, was directed at the
Orthodox Church leader's support for Mr Putin, who
two weeks later was elected for a third term as
Russia's president.
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