Three members of the Russian female punk band Pussy Riot are among the eight candidates nominated for the 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
The trio, who were imprisoned for staging a musical protest derogatory to President Vladimir Putin at Moscow's main cathedral early this year, were nominated on Thursday by Werner Schulz, German member of the European Parliament.
Moscow's Khamovniki District Court on August 17 sentenced Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich to two years in prison for storming the altar of Christ the Savior Cathedral on February 21 along with several unidentified persons in masks, and singing a punk prayer imploring Virgin Mary to "throw Putin out."
They were convicted on charge of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and hostility.
Read more at RTT News, published 14 September 2012.
Three members of the Russian female punk band Pussy Riot are among the eight candidates nominated for the 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
The trio, who were imprisoned for staging a musical protest derogatory to President Vladimir Putin at Moscow's main cathedral early this year, were nominated on Thursday by Werner Schulz, German member of the European Parliament.
Moscow's Khamovniki District Court on August 17 sentenced Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich to two years in prison for storming the altar of Christ the Savior Cathedral on February 21 along with several unidentified persons in masks, and singing a punk prayer imploring Virgin Mary to "throw Putin out."
They were convicted on charge of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and hostility.
Read more at RTT News, published 14 September 2012.