Three members of Pussy Riot have been sentenced to two years in prison on Friday after a Russian court found them guilty of "hooliganism" in connection with a February "punk prayer" protest they staged against Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral, Reuters reports.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, and Maria Alyokhina, 24, jailed since March, have received expressions of support from musicians including Paul McCartney, Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers during legal proceedings that have been criticized as a politically motivated show trial intended to chill dissent against Putin. The women said that theirs was a political protest that was never intended to offend the Russian Orthodox Church.