Pussy Riot verdict: live report

1145 GMT: The crowd outside has swelled to about 400 Pussy Riot supporters, with police trying to divide demonstrators into two groups.

1143 GMT: About 20 people have been arrested outside the court since the start of the judgement, according to AFP reporters at the scene.

They include former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, now an opposition political figure, reports the Interfax news agency.

1141 GMT: The three accused, who were already smiling, start to laugh as they listen to the judge's statement.

1135 GMT: Pussy Riot "carefully planned" their February 21 action, the judge adds.

1130 GMT: The trio "expressed no repentance" and "offended the feelings of believers", says the judge.

1125 GMT: Judge Marina Syrova reads out the judgement, stating that Pussy Riot "committed a serious breach of public order, motivated by religious hatred" and engaged in " provocative and insulting acts in a religious building".

The three defendants listen, smiling inside their glass cage.

1123 GMT: All three have been found guilty of hooliganism, motivated by religious hatred.

1118 GMT: PUSSY RIOT BAND MEMBERS GUILTY OF HOOLIGANISM: MOSCOW COURT

1115 GMT: The judge has started delivering the judgement, according to our reporter.

1114 GMT: From the courthouse, our reporters say the judge is late in starting the session while a growing number of Pussy Riot supporters are gathering outside.

About 100 people are now chanting "Freedom for Pussy Riot" outside the court.

1112 GMT: In Ukraine, a topless activist from feminist group Femen used a chainsaw to cut down an Orthodox cross in Kiev's central square this morning in support of Pussy Riot.

1059 GMT: More on those balaclava-clad statues: the coloured headgear has been spotted on the monument to 18th-century scientist and writer Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov, a few hundred metres from the Kremlin.

A statue of 19th-century poet and dramatist Alexander Pushkin on the Stary Arbat pedestrian street in central Moscow was also wearing a balaclava earlier this morning.

According to Russian news agencies, some passers-by felt this was a desecration of the memory of these great Russians -- but others just responded with a smile.

1055 GMT: A reminder of the act which sparked all this: the three put on balaclavas and performed a "punk prayer" in Moscow's Christ the Saviour cathedral in February, imploring the Virgin Mary to "throw Putin out".

Worshippers present in the cathedral have spoken of their shock at the unexpected performance.

The context: mass protests against the government following legislative elections in 2011 and ahead of Putin's return to the presidency, following a stint as prime minister, in March.

The Orthodox church made plain its support for Putin but his opponents accused his party of electoral fraud and repression.

1050 GMT: There has been a shift in public opinion in the singers' favour, according to a poll conducted by the respected private Levada Centre.

The public initially backed a full seven-year sentence applicable to the crime but have since moved towards thinking the state's treatment of the trio has been too harsh.

In July, 33 percent of respondents said a seven-year jail term was "adequate" -- down from 47 percent in April -- with many others thinking a shorter sentence was called for.

But only 5 percent believed in July that Pussy Riot should not be punished at all.

1044 GMT: The three accused have made it clear they won't be asking President Vladimir Putin for a pardon.

"Let him ask you and me for forgiveness instead," Nadezhda Tolokonnikova told the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta in an interview published to coincide with the verdict.

1038 GMT: Not everyone supports Pussy Riot, however -- their opponents have also turned out for the verdict.

A group of Orthodox believers are singing a religious song outside the court, and one of them says: "I want Pussy Riot and all who support them to burn in the fire."

Members of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) are here to express their solidarity with the church and denounce Pussy Riot.

"Lower your hands before the Russian Orthodox Church," reads a placard held by one of them.

1034 GMT: Leftist politician Sergei Udaltsov, a key opposition figure who came to show support for Pussy Riot, and two demonstrators -- one hooded, the other holding a placard calling for the women's release -- have been arrested near the court.

A group of about ten young women is meanwhile demonstrating outside, with "We are all Pussy Riot -- August 17" on the T-shirt of one supporter.

1033 GMT: Dozens of police have been deployed around the court building and metal barricades placed on both sides of the street, preventing any large-scale gathering, says our reporter at the scene.

1030 GMT: The prominent Putin critic and opposition leader Alexei Navalny has arrived outside the courthouse, causing a stir among the crowds waiting outside.

1026 GMT: International support for the three Pussy Riot members has been building this week, with rallies from Sydney to New York joining Madonna and Paul McCartney in calling for their release.

More protests are due today, while journalists in Moscow have spotted downtown statues wearing brightly coloured balaclavas, a Pussy Riot trademark.

WELCOME TO AFP'S LIVE REPORT on the verdict in the trial of three members of Pussy Riot -- the Russian protest band whose ridicule of President Vladimir Putin through a "punk prayer" in a church could be punished by three years in a labour camp.

The bandmates, two of them mothers and none older than 30, have been held in pre-trial detention for five months.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich are charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after their performance sparked fury from both Putin supporters and the Russian Orthodox church.

The trio have already asked the faithful to forgive them for causing insult but vigorously defended their view that Russia has made little progress in the 12 years of Putin's domination from the worst of its totalitarian days.

Judge Marina Syrova is due to begin reading her verdict in the Moscow court at 1100 GMT, under tight security, before taking what could be hours to read through case material ahead of sentencing.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pussy-riot-verdict-live-report-102324830.html

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