Your trusted source

A Russian court is due to hear an appeal by three activists from punk band Pussy Riot, BBC reported.

In August, three members of the group were jailed for two years for staging an anti-Kremlin protest in a Moscow cathedral.

The Russian Orthodox Church said on Sunday that clemency should be possible for the trio as long as they repented what they called their "punk prayer."

But their lawyers have said that they doubt the appeal will be successful.

The three band members - Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30 - were found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" in August.

Their imprisonment sparked condemnation in many parts of the world.

Their obscenity-laced performance, which implored the Virgin Mary to "throw out" President Vladimir Putin and sought, they said, to highlight the Russian Orthodox Church leader's support for the president, enraged the Church.

But, in a statement, the Church said that though the women's action "cannot be left unpunished," if they showed penitence and reconsideration of their action their words "shouldn't be left unnoticed."

"The church sincerely wishes for the repentance of those who desecrated a holy place, certainly it would benefit their souls," senior Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida said.

The church's comments follow a suggestion from Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev last month that a suspended sentence would have been sufficient punishment for the women.

Their lawyers have said that their clients will not repent if it means admitting guilt.