Kremlin after more Pussy Riot members

REUTERS

MOSCOW: Russian police are searching for more members of the Pussy Riot punk rock band, a spokeswoman said, signalling further pressure on the group despite an international outcry over jail terms for three women who protested in a church against Vladimir Putin.

The Russian president’s critics condemned the court proceeding that yielded the two-year prison sentences on Friday as part of a clampdown on a protest movement and reminiscent of show trials of dissidents in the Soviet era.

Police said today they were searching for other members of the group over the February protest at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral, but had not yet identified the suspects.

Police did not say how many people they were looking for, nor whether they faced arrest and charges or whether they were just wanted for questioning.

Although the search was launched before Friday’s verdict, the determination of police to pursue other Pussy Riot members suggested the Kremlin would keep the heat on the band despite the furor over the punishment imposed on the three young women.

“The necessary search operations are being conducted,” a representative of the Moscow police told Interfax news agency.

A police spokeswoman in Moscow’s central district confirmed by telephone that other, unidentified members of Pussy Riot were being sought under a criminal case that was now separate from the case against the three performers who were tried.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred over their performance of a “punk prayer” urging the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin.

The three held forth in front of the altar and wearing ski masks to conceal their identity, but were arrested after the protest.

Two others who took part remain at large and the group has said it planned further demonstrations against Putin.

In an interview last week, other members of Pussy Riot — their faces hidden behind colorful ski masks like those worn during the “punk prayer” — said the trial had only strengthened their resolve.