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Russian punk trio Pussy Riot gets two years in prison, igniting protests worldwide

‘HOOLIGANS’: Members of the protest punk band Pussy Riot — (from left) Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich — at a hearing in Moscow. (
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A Moscow court sentenced three female members of a punk band to prison yesterday for demonstrating against Vladimir Putin — triggering anti-Kremlin protests that swept the world.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alekhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, smiled weakly from inside a glass-walled “aquarium” cage as Judge Marina Syrova sentenced them to two years for “hooliganism driven by religious hatred.”

They have been held since February, when they were arrested after performing a 30-second flash-mob-style “punk prayer” near the altar of Moscow’s iconic Christ the Savior Cathedral.

The women wore masks and skimpy outfits as they danced in front of the church’s golden doors and gave an obscenity-laced performance in which they blasted the Russian president and sang, “Virgin Mary, throw Putin out.”

The song also denounced the Russian Orthodox Church’s support of “rotten dictators.”

The trio — already championed by Madonna, Sting, Bjork, Paul McCartney and Amnesty International — won even wider support after the verdicts yesterday.

The Obama administration and EU leaders called the sentences excessive and “disproportionate.”

Anti-Putin rallies — spurred on by postings on Facebook and other social media — were held in Manhattan, Washington, San Francisco, Toronto, London, Paris, Brussels, Barcelona, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Six New Yorkers were arrested for loitering and disorderly conduct at the Russian Consulate on the Upper East Side as demonstrators attempted to deliver a petition signed by 60,000 people denouncing the trial.

Protesters later marched from the consulate, on East 90th Street, to Broadway and 46th Street.

“It’s really tragic. It was a show trial. That’s pretty awful,” said marcher Ian Bateson, a 28-year-old historian who said he had lived in Russia.

Olga Golovanova, 24, of Brooklyn said she didn’t approve of what Pussy Riot did.

“I think it was offensive. I think it was in very bad taste,” she said, but added, “Does it warrant two years in jail? Absolutely not.”

In London, about 40 people wearing masks chanted, “I say Pussy, you say Riot,” outside the Russian Embassy. In Kiev, a topless feminist activist used a chain saw to attack a cross bearing the figure of Christ in the city center.

In Russia, where there have been few major protests since Putin’s re-election as president in March, opposition to the Kremlin appeared galvanized.

“This verdict was written by Vladimir Putin,” said Alexei Navalny, an opposition leader.

About 2,000 people gathered outside the court, many chanting, “Free Pussy Riot!” — while critics among Russia’s Orthodox faithful countered, “Christ is risen.”

Orthodox leaders, including the church leader, Patriarch Kirill, had called for stern punishment, equating the protest in Moscow’s main cathedral with blasphemy.

Judge Syrova agreed: “They deliberately sought a public scandal, and they wanted to insult not only the church workers but society as a whole. They deeply insulted Orthodox believers.”

During the trial, the band members, two of them mothers of young children, apologized and said they were just trying to make a political point.

Several people were arrested outside the court yesterday. Among them was former chess champion Garry Kasparov, who said he was only trying to get into the court when he was seized by cops and accused of biting one.

“I am out of police custody and going to an emergency room to check my injuries and prove I am not drunk and biting anyone!” he tweeted.

Additional reporting by Kevin Fasick