National Post

Pussy Riot found guilty of anti-religious ‘hooliganism’ for church protest
A Russian judge found three women from the punk band Pussy Riot guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred on Friday for staging an anti-Kremlin protest on the altar of Moscow’s main Russian Orthodox church.

Judge Marina Syrova did not immediately issue a sentence but state prosecutors want there-year jail terms for the three women who stormed the altar of the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in February and performed a “punk prayer” asking the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of President Vladimir Putin.

The defendants “committed an act of hooliganism … based on motives of religious hatred and enmity,” the judge told the Moscow court as the defendants sat in a courtroom cage. (Photo: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

Related: Canadian twist in Pussy Riot case sparks call for Ottawa to intervene