Unknown hackers have attacked the website of the Russian court where three members of the feminist punk performance-art group Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in jail.
The hackers posted on the site of Moscow's Khamovnichesky Court slogans in support of Pussy Riot, profanity-laced comments, and a music video by gay Bulgarian singer Azis.
The words "No Logic – Just Hardcore" were posted near the Russian coat of arms, and a recording of the Pussy Riot song "Putin Is Lighting the Fires of Revolution" was also uploaded.
A spokeswoman for the court confirmed that the site had come under hacker attack. The site was later restored and is now operating again.
Russia's Interior Ministry said its Department K would investigate the attack "if a report of a crime is filed" in connection with the incident. Department K specializes in fighting crimes involving the use of computers, the Internet, and other information technologies.
The three Pussy Riot members -- Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich -- were found guilty on August 17 in the court of "hooliganism" motivated by religious hatred over a February performance in a Moscow Orthodox cathedral.
Russian authorities say they are continuing to hunt for other members of the punk group who were also at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral on February 21 and participated in the anti-Putin "punk prayer" that prompted the legal proceedings against Alyokhina, Tolokonnikova, and Samutsevich.
Lawyers for the three jailed women have already said they will appeal the court verdict at Russia's supreme and constitutional courts, as well as at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights.
However, lawyers say the trio does not plan to ask Putin for a pardon over their conviction and sentencing, which have been condemned by Western states and rights groups as disproportionate to the offense.
In another development, Pussy Riot defense lawyer Mark Feigin said that members of the group are registering a Pussy Riot trademark to protect the name and the group's future earnings potential.
Feigin said the process of registering the trademark was started in April to protect against "use of the group's name in various actions and projects."
The hackers posted on the site of Moscow's Khamovnichesky Court slogans in support of Pussy Riot, profanity-laced comments, and a music video by gay Bulgarian singer Azis.
The words "No Logic – Just Hardcore" were posted near the Russian coat of arms, and a recording of the Pussy Riot song "Putin Is Lighting the Fires of Revolution" was also uploaded.
A spokeswoman for the court confirmed that the site had come under hacker attack. The site was later restored and is now operating again.
Russia's Interior Ministry said its Department K would investigate the attack "if a report of a crime is filed" in connection with the incident. Department K specializes in fighting crimes involving the use of computers, the Internet, and other information technologies.
The three Pussy Riot members -- Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich -- were found guilty on August 17 in the court of "hooliganism" motivated by religious hatred over a February performance in a Moscow Orthodox cathedral.
Russian authorities say they are continuing to hunt for other members of the punk group who were also at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral on February 21 and participated in the anti-Putin "punk prayer" that prompted the legal proceedings against Alyokhina, Tolokonnikova, and Samutsevich.
Lawyers for the three jailed women have already said they will appeal the court verdict at Russia's supreme and constitutional courts, as well as at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights.
However, lawyers say the trio does not plan to ask Putin for a pardon over their conviction and sentencing, which have been condemned by Western states and rights groups as disproportionate to the offense.
In another development, Pussy Riot defense lawyer Mark Feigin said that members of the group are registering a Pussy Riot trademark to protect the name and the group's future earnings potential.
Feigin said the process of registering the trademark was started in April to protect against "use of the group's name in various actions and projects."
