Three women objecting to Vladimir Putin's relationship with the Russian Orthodox church have gone on trial in Russia today. The women - members of the band Pussy Riot - face up to seven years' imprisonment for their unsanctioned protest performance in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral back in February 2012. The women from the band entered the Cathedral wearing masks and performed a "punk prayer," in which they called upon the Virgin Mary to "throw Vladimir Putin out," Reuters reports.

The trial has been labelled a test of Putin's treatment of dissent, during a new presidential term. As the three band members were led, handcuffed, into court, their own supporters had gathered in solidarity and were heard to chant "girls, we're with you" and "victory!" The streets around the Moscow courthouse were closed as Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29 were led inside by female police officers. Speaking to a defence lawyer, Nadezhada said "we did not want to offend anybody. We admit our political guilt but not our legal guilt." Their protest was intended to highlight the relationship between the Russian Orthodox church and Putin, a former KGB officer. The leader of the church, Patriarch Kirill, was enraged by the news of the protest. The three members of Pussy Riot have been charged with hooliganism, motivated by religious hatred or hostility.

In Maria's statement, she said "I thought the church loved all its children but it seems the church only loves those children who love Putin." Their performance was part of a large-scale protest movement, which saw 100,000 turning out for rallies, at its peak. Amnesty International has called for the release of the three women, arguing that the charges brought against them are not a "justifiable response to the peaceful - if, to many, offensive - expression of their political beliefs."