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Opposing Putin: a timeline of the Pussy Riot saga

Below are the main developments in the case of three young female Russian punk band members who face sentence on Friday for mocking President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral. Prosecutors have demanded a three-year prison term for each.

– February 21, 2012: Five band mates of the Pussy Riot punk band wearing brightly-coloured balaclavas belt out a song called “Punk Prayer” in Christ the Saviour Cathedral. The song says the Russian Orthodox Church has become too close to the Kremlin and calls on the Virgin Mary to “drive out Putin”. The performers are dragged out by guards.

– March 5: Two members of the band — Maria Alekhina, 24, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22 — are detained on a broad hooliganism charge that includes a motive of religious hatred, which carries a jail term of up to seven years. Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, a third member of the group, is arrested later.

– April 22: Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill holds an open-air prayer service with thousands of worshippers gathered outside the building, accuhsing Pussy Riot of desecrating holy relics kept there.

– June 27: Around 100 Russian cultural figures sign a petition demanding the release of the Pussy Riot members, saying that their trial “discredits the Russian judicial system”.

– July 20: The trial begins.

– August 2: Putin says he does not favour a tough punishment for the Pussy Riot protesters.

– August 7: US pop icon Madonna says at a concert in Moscow she prayed for the freedom of Pussy Riot. Other international music stars who have joined a chorus of protest include Sting, the Pet Shop Boys, Who leader Pete Townshend, Bjork, and John Lennon’s artist widow Yoko Ono.