MOSCOW (Reuters) - Three members of a feminist punk band denounced a lack of freedom in Russia as a judge prepared to deliver a verdict on Friday over their anti-Kremlin protest in a church, a case that supporters say has put President Vladimir Putin's tolerance of dissent on trial.
Prosecutors want a three-year jail sentence for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for the members of the Pussy Riot group, who stormed the altar of Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral in February wearing bright ski masks, tights and short skirts and sang a "punk prayer" for Russia to be rid of Putin.