The Moscow City Court has upheld 15-day administrative arrest of two Pussy Riot members, Olga Pastukhova and Olga Kurachyova, who had invaded the pitch during the World Cup final game between the teams of France and Croatia.
“Moscow’s Khamovniki District Court’s rulings of July 16 regarding Kurachyova and Pastukhova shall remain unchanged, appeals shall be dismissed,” the court’s press service told Interfax on July 23.
The Moscow City Court earlier dismissed appeals against similar rulings regarding another two participants in the action, Veronika Nikulshina and Pyotr Verzilov.
The rulings on arrests of all four participants in Pussy Riot’s action during the World Cup final have thus entered into effect.
As reported, the Khamovniki District Court found them guilty of gross violation of rules governing viewers’ conduct at official sports events. In addition to arrests, the court also banned them from attending official sports events in Russia for three years.
On July 15, three young women and one young man wearing police uniforms ran onto the pitch 50 minutes into the World Cup France vs. Croatia final in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. Pussy Riot members later said the purpose of the action was “freeing political prisoners,” including Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov.
The game was paused over the incident. Security removed the four people from the pitch; one of them was carried by the hands and feet. They were later taken to a police station so that administrative charges could be drawn up.
They were also charged with wearing police uniforms illegally. The magistrates’ court of the Khamovniki district will hear these cases on July 25.
