The verdict in the controversial trial of anti-Putin punks Pussy Riot is due to be announced in a downtown Moscow court at 3pm local time (11am GMT) on Friday, August 17. Prosecutors have asked for three years in a trial that has divided Russia and drawn sharp international criticism.
RIA Novosti will have journalists both in the courtroom and on the streets of Moscow on Friday to bring you live updates on the verdict and expected protests by the group’s supporters.
The group performed a “punk prayer” that urged the Virgin Mary to “drive Putin out” at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral on February 26.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, are charged with hooliganism aimed at “inciting religious hatred” over the protest. But lawyers for the group say the performance was not anti-religion and intended to protest Orthodox Church support for Vladimir Putin ahead of the March 4 presidential elections.