The three women were convicted on charges of hate-motivated hooliganism and sentenced to two years in prison.

The three women have been in detention for over five months and should be released, Human Rights Watch said.

“The charges and verdict against the Pussy Riot band members distort both the facts and the law,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “These women should never have been charged with a hate crime and should be released immediately.

Moscow’s Khamovnichesky District Court found 22-year-old Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23-year-old Maria Alyokhina, and 30-year-old Yekaterina Samutsevich guilty on charges of hooliganism committed by a group of persons motivated by religious hatred, under article 213, part 2 of Russia’s criminal code.

 Four members of the group performed what they call a “punk prayer” on February 21 in Moscow’s Russian Orthodox Christ the Savior Cathedral. Dressed in brightly colored dresses and wearing balaclavas, they sneaked into the area in front of the iconostasis – a screen that separates the sanctuary from the rest of the church – where the public is generally not supposed to enter.

They danced, jumped, and shouted some words to their song, “Virgin Mary, Get Putin Out.”

The stunt lasted about a minute before they were forcibly removed from the premises, and caused no damage to church property.

The same day, a video widely shared on social media showed a montage of the stunt with the song spliced in. The song criticizes the Russian Orthodox Church’s alleged close relationship with the Kremlin and the personally close relationship of President Vladimir V. Putin with the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“It’s clear in this case that the women’s aim was to make a political statement, and it’s also clear that some found their actions offensive,” Williamson said. “But there is still a long way to go between an offensive political statement and a hate crime.”

To correctly balance the rights of free speech and political opinion with protection of the rights of others, only conduct likely to incite imminent violence, discrimination, or hostility against an individual or clearly defined group of people should be classified as a hate crime, Human Rights Watch said.

It should also be clear that no other reasonable alternative preventive measures are available to respond to the conduct. 

Although Human Rights Watch recognizes that abusive conduct may not be insulated from punishment simply because it may be accompanied by protected expression, the Russian authorities had other options for holding the band members accountable for their actions, including through articles of Russia’s code of administrative offenses.

“The case against the Pussy Riot band members seems aimed not at protecting public order and security but at setting boundaries for political criticism,” Williamson said.