Sir Paul McCartney has written to Russian authorities asking them to consider releasing members of jailed punk band Pussy Riot on parole.

Two members of punk band Pussy Riot have been taken to remote Russian prison colonies notorious for their harsh conditions after a court this month upheld their two-year sentences, their lawyer said.

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.

A Russian court adjourned an appeal hearing for three members of the Pussy Riot punk band against their conviction for a protest against President Vladimir Putin in a church after one of the trio sacked her lawyers.

Two members of Russia’s anti-Kremlin punk band Pussy Riot have fled the country to avoid prosecution for staging a protest against President Vladimir Putin at a church altar, the band said yesterday.

Paul McCartney has helped to free an elephant kept chained in the dark for seven years.

Several dozen protesters staged a demonstration outside the Russian Embassy in Dublin yesterday to express solidarity with the members of female punk band Pussy Riot who were jailed by a Moscow court last week.

The jailing in Moscow of three members of the punk rock group Pussy Riot is a stark reminder of the importance of free speech and the right to dissent within a functioning democracy.

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.

Madonna appealed for the release of three members of the punk group Pussy Riot at her Russian concert last night.

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.