Madonna lent her considerable celebrity to the cause for releasing the jailed members of the punk band Pussy Riot in Moscow tonight.
via The Guardian:
Supporters of feminist punk band Pussy Riot say they hope three band members threatened with harsh jail sentences can avoid jail after Madonna used a concert in Moscow to condemn their persecution.
Prosecutors on Tuesday called for the three women – Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich – to be jailed for three years after arguing they had insulted all of Russian Orthodoxy and posed a danger to society. They have been charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after performing a "punk prayer" against President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral.
Performing in Moscow's Olimpisky Stadium on Tuesday night, Madonna donned a balaclava and stripped off her clothes to reveal the words "Pussy Riot" scrawled across her back during a performance of her 1984 hit Like a Virgin.
She was the latest in a long list of global stars who have come out to support the trio.
"I know there are many sides to every story, and I mean no disrespect to the church or the government, but I think these girls … have done something courageous and they have paid the price for this act and I pray for their freedom," Madonna said earlier in the show to massive applause. "They deserve the right to be free."
