Pussy Riot appeal adjourned as one sacks her lawyers

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.

About 100 people — Pussy Riot supporters in colourful T-shirts and mainly elderly Russian Orthodox Christians — filled corridors of the Moscow court.

Pussy Riot supporters released three large balloons — a red, blue and a yellow one, reading “Pussy Riot!” — into the sky, while one Orthodox campaigner’s banner read: “Shame to lawyers, prison for blasphemers.”