Pussy Riot verdict and sentence

15.28: Defence lawyers have announced that they will appeal the sentence, going to the European Court of Human Rights, if necessary.

15.13: Sentence will start from day of arrest, that is March 3, 2012 for Alekhina and Tolokonnikova and March 15 for Samusevitch.

15.04: Again from the Guardian "The judge has said they are sane and should be punished in accordance with the law.

 She has listed attenuating circumstances including children (of two defendants), a lack of previous crime and positive character profiles.

 The court concludes that it is not possible to change the charges and make them less grave, "there are no exclusive circumstances to do that".

 And at the same time the motives of the crime and the attitude, the court deems that to restore social justices if they serve a real jail sentence.

 And... they will serve jail sentence in prison, the judge has said." The BBC Russian Service implies that they will be serving their sentence in a penal colony.

14.57: Finally the sentence - two years in ordinary regime camps. Could have been a good deal worse.

14.46: From the Guardian update: "The judge has outlined three specific elements for finding guilt:

 1. The choice and timing of venue

 2. Their continued performance and resistance to be taken outside by security and cathedral parishioners

 3. And the defendant's conduct and their accomplices afterwards." In fact, they left when asked to do so and were not arrested till a week afterwards.

14.39: From the Guardian update: "Posting of the video was proof of the band trying to gain publicity by their hooligan actions, the judge has said adding,"They have deliberately placed themselves against Orthodox believers." She's also said that the "jerking of limbs" during the performance was further proof of hatred towards Christians.

14.33: From the judges summing up: feminism is not a crime in the Russian federation. (That's a relief.) On the other hand, the girls of Pussy Riot did undermine the state's constitutional structures. Also, while one cannot deny the shock and pain experienced by those who were there and who have provided the testimony against the girls, the defence argument that Pussy Riot were not motivated by religious hatred cannot be accepted. Looks bad.

14.17: The judge has been reading the verdict for two hours and everyone has to stand while listening to it in a hot and stuffy court room. Goodness knows what it must be like in that glass cage.

14.12: Oh this is priceless: apparently during his arrest Kasparov bit a police officer who has now gone to seek medical assistance.

UPDATE 13.51: More arrests outside the court though it is not clear what people are being arrested for. As the old NKVD saying had it: give us a man and we shall have a case. Or for my Russian readers: Был- бо человек, дело найдётся.

UPDATE 13.45: One of the defence lawyers, Nikolay Polozov, had tweeted that the judge seems to have read about a third of the papers in front of her. This can run and run. It is 16.45 in Moscow.

UPDATE 13.39: Guardian: "In summing up the prosecution case, the judge is saying that prayers in a Russian cathedral can only be offered by a priest and not by ordinary members of the public so making their protest-as-prayer against church rules anyway."

UPDATE 13.30: Arrests are continuing. Three carloads have been taken away. Garry Kasparov's Facebook page confirms his arrest and publishes picture.

UPDATE 13.25:One anti-Pussy Riot twitter has demanded that they should be punished according to their deserts. It's a pity, the tweet continued, that the sponsors and organizers will not be punished. Because young women would never, never have been able to think of a political action.

UPDATE 13.18: One twitter comment refers to the vocabulary of the verdict - references to satanism, people being filled with spiritual pain, being mesmerized, etc. "We are waiting for the fire to be lit in the centre of the court."

UPDATE 13.06 "For Honest Elections" has tweeted a summons to all who can to come to the court as soon as they can finish work in order to support the girls. Moscow is three hours ahead of us.

Apologies for not timing the previous updates. I knew there was something wrong.

UPDATE 12.55: More arrests outside the court among supporters of the group. Some of the police inside have now come out.

UPDATE: The judge summed up with the following words, which are surprisingly accurate though she obviously does not think so:

It was a small act but maybe not a very elegant act but they consider that it is the country which is sick. For them, individuals are not important, they consider that education in Russia is still in the Soviet mould. And that there is still cruelty in the country and that prison is a miniature of Russia itself.

UPDATE: More police outside the court and more arrests are reported. Everything is still uncertain.

UPDATE: The judge seems to be heading towards a stiff sentence in her emphasis on the conspiracy and thorough planning of the punk event. The police has closed round the glass cage in which the defendants are sitting.

I am trying hard to follow what is going on in Moscow inside and outside the Khamovnichesky court. The verdict is still being delivered but the girls have been found guilty of hooliganism, which is not a surprise.

Outside there are scuffles between supporters and opponents while the police seems to be arresting various supporters of the group. Already gone is Left Front opposition leader Sergey Udaltsov and, apparently, Garry Kasparov.