More than a hundred actors and artists signed an appeal to stop unlawful impriso nment and criminal prosecution

of the young women. 26 June several activists sig ned an appeal to stop unlawful imprisonment and criminal prosecution of the memb ers of Pussy Riot band for their anti-Putin Punk Prayer performance at the Templ e of the Christ the Savior. The appeal was submitted to the Supreme Court of Rus sia and the Moscow City Court and was addressed to their chairpersons. Meanwhile , the website of "Echo Moskvy" continues collecting signatures [under this appea l]: On 20 June 2012 the Tagansky court in Moscow extended the detention of the membe rs of Pussy Riot band. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina, and Ekaterina Sam utsevich have been imprisoned since March 2012 for their Punk Prayer performance at th e Temple of the Christ the Savior on 21 February 2012. They were [unlawfully] ch arged under the Article 213, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federati on and face up to 7 years in prison. We, the undersigned, have various opinions about the moral and ethical side of t he Pussy Riot Punk Prayer performance in the Temple of the Christ the Savior, however: - We believe that the [ Punk Prayer ] performance does not constitute a criminal offense . The detained women have never killed or robbed anyone, committed violence, or destroyed or stole someone else's property. The Russian Federation is a secular state, and anti-clerical action - if they do not fall under the articles of the Criminal Code - must not entail criminal prosecution. - We believe that the criminal case against Pussy Riot compromises the Russian j ustice system and undermines the credibility of the institutions of power in gen eral. While the arrested band members are in custody, the Russian society there is a growing the atmosphere of intolerance that leads to its division and radica lization. - We see no legal basis or practical justification for further isolation of thes e young women from the society, as they do not pose any danger, especially becau se two of them are young mothers. - We are convinced that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova , Maria Alekhina, and Ekaterina Samutsevich must be released from the custody, a nd their criminal charges must be dropped or re-classified to/as administrative. Translation by freepussyriot.org ..