Yoko Ono awarded the Russian punk band Pussy Riot this year’s LennonOno grant for peace.

Three members of the Pussy Riot punk band have lodge an appeal over a court’s decision to jail them for two years for their “punk prayer” against Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

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.

A verdict is due later in the trial of three members of a Russian punk-band who performed an anti-Putin song in Moscow's biggest church.