Australia Made Formal Complaint About Pussy Riot

9 September 2012 | 12:15 pm | Staff Writer

Band’s two-year sentence “disproportionate", according to 'us'.

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The Age has reported that Prime Minister Julia Gillard revealed that Australia's embassy in Moscow had raised the plight of Pussy Riot to Russian representatives.

Before Gillard's trip to Russia for a summit of Asia Pacific leaders was cut short, she admitted that the jailing of Russian punks sparked a formal complaint from Australia over the “disproportionate" two-year sentence handed to the trio.

Three members of the band were charged with hooliganism after a protest performance in a Russian church.

Gillard had been expected to speak to Russian president Vladimir Putin during the forum meeting but it was unclear if the topic of the jailed band would have be on the agenda.

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