FILE In this Friday, Aug. 3, 2012 file photo Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sits in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia. Three members of Pussy Riot were jailed in March and charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after their punk performance against President Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral. They are awaiting the verdict on Friday, Aug. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, file)
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FILE In this Friday, Aug. 3, 2012 file photo Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sits in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia. Three members of Pussy Riot were jailed in March and charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after their punk performance against President Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral. They are awaiting the verdict on Friday, Aug. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, file)
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FILE In this Friday, Aug. 3, 2012 file photo Pussy Riot member Maria Alekhina sits in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia. Three members of Pussy Riot were jailed in March and charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after their punk performance against President Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral. They are awaiting the verdict on Friday, Aug. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, file)
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FILE In this Friday, Aug. 3, 2012 file photo Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich sits in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia. Three members of Pussy Riot were jailed in March and charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after their punk performance against President Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral. They are awaiting the verdict on Friday, Aug. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, file)
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FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2012 file photo, members of the Russian radical feminist group Pussy Riot try to perform at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. Three members of Pussy Riot were jailed in March and charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after their punk performance against President Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral. They are awaiting the verdict on Friday, Aug.17, 2012. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev, File)
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FILE In this Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012 file photo feminist punk group Pussy Riot members, from left, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia. Three members of Pussy Riot were jailed in March and charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after their punk performance against President Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral. Theyare awaiting the verdict on Friday, Aug. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, file)
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FILE In this Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012 file photo feminist punk group Pussy Riot members, from left, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia.Three members of Pussy Riot were jailed in March and charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after their punk performance against President Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral. They are awaiting the verdict on Friday, Aug.17, 2012. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, file)
Higher Moscow court to hear Pussy Riot appeal
MOSCOW (AP) — Moscow's highest court panel is examining an appeal by three members of the punk band
Pussy Riot against their conviction for an anti-Putin protest.
Pavel Chikov, head of the Agora legal aid group which represents the band, said Wednesday that Moscow City Court's presidium has requested files of the guilty verdict for "hooliganism" they received in August for a performance in Moscow's main cathedral.
Russia's human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin has filed a supporting affidavit asking for the conviction to be overturned. Lukin's affidavits have special legal status and have frequently helped free defendants in a country where 99 percent of trials end in convictions.
Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were given two-year sentences. Samutsevich was later released on appeal, but her conviction was not overturned.
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