MOSCOW, August 15 (Itar-Tass) — The Moscow Kuntsevsky District court will begin hearings into a civil lawsuit filed against the Pussy Riot punk band by a local resident from Novosibirsk on August 20, spokeswoman for the Kuntsevsky district court Tatyana Danshova told Itar-Tass on Wednesday. "Pre-trial hearings into the case will be held at 4.00 pm on August 20," the spokeswoman said.

Irina Rusankina from Novosibirsk sued the Pussy Riot punk band, claiming 30,000 rubles in moral damages.

The plaintiff said the punk group "show" at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, which resulted in criminal prosecution of the punk group on charges of hooliganism, hurt her religious feelings and made her suffer, which infringes on the rights and freedoms of a citizen guaranteed by the international acts, the Russian Constitution and the federal law.

"Breaching church canons is of detriment to the sacred values of Christian faith and an encroachment on the sacraments of the church, which deeply hurt my feelings and my senses", the plaintiff said.

In 2003 Irina Rusankina attempted to run for the post of a regional governor of the Novosibirsk region, but during the election she was not put on the ballot.