You're reading: Court extends jail time for anti-Putin rockers

MOSCOW — A court ruled Wednesday that three members of a punk band who stormed the pulpit of Moscow's main Orthodox church and asked for Russia to be freed from Vladimir Putin will remain in jail until late July.

The Pussy Riot members
were arrested in March for the unauthorized performance after briefly
chanting “Mother Mary, drive Putin away” while clad in brightly colored
homemade ski masks and miniskirts in Christ the Savior Cathedral in
February.

They face up to seven years in jail on hooliganism charges.

Tagansky
district court judge ruled Wednesday that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23,
Maria Alekhina, 24, and 29-year-old Yekaterina Samutsevich will remain
in detention until July 24, after an investigator petitioned to keep
them in prison while the police investigation continues.

Their cause and the Russian Orthodox Church’s harsh response have provoked public outcry.

Outside
the court building, police detained at least five people as dozens of
the band’s supporters whistled in unison, chanted anti-Kremlin slogans
and clashed with Orthodox activists who called on the band members “to
repent.”

Pussy Riot gained notoriety in January for performing a
song taunting Putin — then prime minister — from a spot on Red Square
used in czarist Russia for announcing government decrees. Video of their
performances became instant Internet hits.

The band’s
unauthorized “punk prayer” took place two weeks before March’s
presidential vote in which Putin won a third presidential term despite a
wave of massive protests against his rule.

The church says the
women deserve to be prosecuted for their “blasphemous” performance from a
place near the altar that no lay persons are allowed to enter, although
thousands of believers have signed a petition urging the church to
forgive the band.

Attorneys for the band members argued that they should be released because they have young children.

Although
church and state are separate under Russia’s constitution, the Russian
Orthodox Church has claimed a leading role in setting moral guidelines
for society. Its growing prominence has caused concern among followers
of minority faiths and nonreligious Russians.