AP
Pussy Riot members, from left, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alekhina sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow.
Moscow -
Russian authorities are looking to prosecute two further members of the punk band Pussy Riot for their participation in a flash mob-type event at a Moscow church in February, Russian media reported Monday.
Three members of Russia's Pussy Riot who have already been jailed for two years for singing a song insulting President Vladimir Putin will appeal the sentence, their lawyer Nikolai Polozov said earlier Monday.
A Moscow court found Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina, and Ekaterina Samuzevich guilty of hooliganism and inciting religious hatred on Friday, and two additional women are sought on the same charges, the Interfax news agency said citing a police spokesman.
Defence lawyer Polozov earlier told Interfax that the court had yet to provide the defence with a copy of the verdict, without which the appeals process cannot be started.
The defence expected to receive the documents this week and could file appeals in Russia's supreme and constitutional courts and the European Court of Human Rights as early as next week, he said.
The verdict in the Pussy Riot trial has been widely criticized internationally as excessive and repressive of free speech.
The band members were arrested after an flash mob-style performance in the Moscow cathedral in February, singing “Mother of God Drive Putin Out!” - Sapa-dpa
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