A member of punk band Pussy Riot was freed on appeal yesterday, but a court upheld sentences for two others imposed over a cathedral protest against Vladimir Putin.

Members of the Pussy Riot girl band yesterday likened themselves to dissidents from the Soviet era yesterdat, saying their trial for performing an anti-Kremlin stunt in a church was unjust, but that nobody could take away their inner freedom.

Three women from the punk band Pussy Riot could face sentence this week in a trial over their “protest prayer” in a church that has transfixed Russia and opened president Vladimir Putin to new accusations of a crackdown on dissent.

Three women who protested against Vladimir Putin in a “punk prayer” on the altar of Russia’s main cathedral have gone on trial in a case seen as a test of the long-time leader’s treatment of dissent during a new presidential term.