The Russian court is set to hear an appeal filed by three jailed members of the rock band Pussy Riot, but postponed the appeal... (Associated Press) 
 
 Feminist punk group Pussy Riot member Maria Alekhina sits in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia on Monday Oct. 1, 2012. A Russian... (Associated Press) 
 
 Feminist punk group Pussy Riot members, from left, Maria Alekhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia on Monday Oct. 1, 2012. A Russian... (Associated Press) 
 
 The three performers were sentenced in August to two years in prison for hooliganism for performing a "punk prayer" against President Vladimir Putin at Moscow's main cathedral. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alekhina, 24, and 30-year-old Samutsevich were arrested in March after dancing and high-kicking at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral as they pleaded with the Virgin Mary to save Russia from Putin, who was elected to a third presidential term two weeks later. 'Pointless call' 
 
 Their obscenity-laced performance on 21 February, which implored the Virgin Mary to "throw out" President Vladimir Putin and sought, they said, to highlight the Russian Orthodox Church leader's support for the president, enraged the Church. The Church's comments follow a suggestion from Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev last month that a suspended sentence would have been sufficient punishment for the women. Pyotr Verzilov, Tolokonnikova's husband, said ahead of Monday's hearing that he doubted the appeal would be successful. The father of one of the jailed women said that whether they repent or not, the trio have little hope of their sentences being quashed. The band members' imprisonment has come to symbolize intolerance of dissent in Putin's Russia and caused a strong international condemnation.
– The hearing set for today in the Pussy Riot case has been postponed until Oct. 10, CNN reports. The Russian court moved the hearing following a band member's announcement in court today that a disagreement had prompted her to fire her lawyers. Yekaterina Samutsevich said she'd found a new lawyer but hasn't signed a contract with the attorney, the AP reports. Prosecutors accused Samutsevich of seeking to delay the legal process. The Russian Orthodox Church yesterday changed its tune on the case, calling for clemency for the political punk rockers if they're willing to repent. But their lawyers say there's no way the band members will acknowledge guilt, the BBC reports. If the church means "repentance in the sense of a crime... it definitely won't happen. Our clients won't admit guilt. A call for that is pointless," says one.