Members of the all-girl punk band Pussy Riot: Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (right), Maria Alyokhina (center) and Yekaterina Samutsevich (left) in a glass-walled cage during a court hearing in Moscow earlier today.
Our colleague Korva Coleman described what Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich did to get themselves in trouble this way:
"Last February, they staged an impromptu performance in one of Moscow's main Russian Orthodox cathedrals. Wearing colorful balaclavas and gaudy tights, the women sang a prayer to the Virgin Mary calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin's banishment and used vulgar language criticizing church leader Patriarch Kirill."
The case, as Korva reported, has gotten attention around the world and the band has gotten support from such notables as Madonna and Paul McCartney. As our friends at On the Media have said, by prosecuting the young women the Russian government " has turned Pussy Riot into an international cause."
Today, as Korva has reported, the band's supporters are expected to gather in at least two dozen cities.
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