Pussy Riot Sentenced to Two Years in Prison, Artists React

The verdict is in and judge Marina Syrova has found the members of Pussy Riot guilty of committing “hooliganism driven by religious hatred” and sentenced the three women, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, to two years in prison.   

The court said: "The Pussy Riot singers colluded under unestablished circumstances, for the purpose of offensively violating public peace in a sign of flagrant disrespect for citizens.  The women were motivated by religious enmity and hatred, and acted provocatively and in an insulting manner inside a religious building in the presence of a large number of believers."

The members of the group stood in a glass cage, handcuffed as they awaited the verdict which took three painful hours. 

It really was a shocking result since Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who was the main target of their scorn, had said that he didn’t expect the girls to be judged too harshly and, while it’s true that they could have been sentenced to a maximum of seven years in prison, this just seems so excessive.

Naturally, artists around the world have started reacting to the sentencing.  Here are a few examples from the Twittersphere: 

It's a sad day because I actually love Russia! What's happening to this great nation that it's afraid of poofs, Madonna and pussy! - boygeorge (@BoyGeorge) August 17, 2012

Oh.I'm afraid #moscow has just opened a can of worms.#pussyriot and now banning#gaypride. Time to take action my friends. ForHumanity - k.d. lang (@kdlang) August 17, 2012

Shocking. #freepussyriot youtube.com/watch?v=GuqGws...- Tegan and Sara (@teganandsara) August 17, 2012

#FREEPUSSYRIOT - Kerrang! Magazine (@KerrangMagazine) August 17, 2012

It’s unlikely that anything can or will be done to change the fate of these three young artists who dared to take a stand and speak out against their government.