(6 Aug 2012) STORYLINE
The entertainer Madonna voiced hope on Monday that three feminist Russian rockers on trial for performing a 'punk prayer' against Vladimir Putin will be released soon.
Speaking in Moscow, the pop diva said, "I believe in freedom of speech and I'm against censorship, so I hope that the judge is lenient with them and they are freed soon."
Meanwhile outside the Moscow courthouse where the three members of the punk band 'Pussy Riot' are being put on trial, British Member of Parliament Kerry McCarthy said that had the incident occurred in the UK, the potential punishment would have been far less severe.
"I don't think that they would be in the situation they are in now, were it not for the fact they had been making a political protest," McCarthy added.
Two weeks before Putin's return to the presidency in a March election, five members of the Pussy Riot band staged their political protest in Moscow's main cathedral, singing "Virgin Mary, drive Putin away!"
Three of them were arrested, and have spent five months in custody on charges of hooliganism.
They could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
International rights groups have called them prisoners of conscience, and leading musicians have called for their release.
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