On Friday,  Judge Marina Syrova convicted three members of Pussy Riot the women of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred,  sentencing them to “two years deprivation of liberty in a penal colony.” This is one year less than the three-year sentence sought by prosecutors. Syrova said the punk prayer Pussy Riot had performed in a Moscow cathedral had “crudely undermined social order.” She stated that  “These three plus others… plotted together to undermine civil order, motivated by religious hatred.” Syrova justified her sentence, saying, “Considering the nature and degree of the danger posed by what was done, the defendants’ correction is possible only through an actual punishment.”

Lawyers representing Pussy Riot anticipated the guilty verdict and plan to appeal the ...