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Pussy Riot activists placed under 15-day arrest for disrupting World Cup final

Neither of the four admitted their guilt

Stewards pull away Pyotr Verzilov, who broke into the pitch during the 2018 FIFA World Cup final Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

Stewards pull away Pyotr Verzilov, who broke into the pitch during the 2018 FIFA World Cup final

© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. A Moscow district court on Monday sanctioned a 15-day administrative arrest of four members of the notorious punk band Pussy Riot who had broken into the pitch during the 2018 FIFA World Cup final match at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium on July 15.

"The court rules to find them guilty of committing an offense under part 3, Article 20.31 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses and inflict a punishment of 15 days of administrative arrest," the judge of Moscow’s Khamovniki District Court pronounced the verdict.

Apart from that, the court banned them to visit official sports events for a term of three years.

Neither of the four admitted their guilt.

The incident took place during the World Cup final match between France and Croatia on Sunday. A spokesman for the Moscow police department said earlier administrative cases had been initiated against three girls and one young man on charges of violating spectators’ conduct rules during sports competitions (article 20.31 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses) and illegal wear of official army or police uniform (Article 17.12).

Pussy Riot claimed that the four people breaking onto the field during the final match and detained by law enforcers, were the band’s members.

In August 2012, Moscow's Khamovniki District Court found three Pussy Riot members - Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich - guilty of hooliganism based on religious hatred during a controversial act at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. Each of them was sentenced to two years in a general correctional facility. On October 10, 2012, the Moscow City Court changed the verdict for Samutsevich, handing her a suspended sentence. In late 2013, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were granted amnesty.

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