Russian clerics ask for mercy for Pussy Riot
NBC News: Russian Orthodox Church officials say they have forgiven Russian punk band Pussy Riot for their protest and hope authorities will show mercy.
Three women from the band were sentenced on Friday to two years in jail for charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. The women staged an anti-Kremlin protest on the altar of a Russian Orthodox Church.
According to The Associated Press, Archpriest Maxim Kozlov said on state TV: “We are simply praying and hoping that these young women and all these people shouting in front of the court building, committing sacrilegious acts not only in Russia but in other countries, realize that their acts are awful. And despite this the church is asking for mercy within the limits of law.”
Photo: Three members of Pussy Riot sit in a glass cage at a Moscow court room on Aug. 17 (Sergey Ponomarev / AP file)
