A Moscow court is due to deliver its verdict on August 17 on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred against three women from the feminist performance-art group Pussy Riot. The case against Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich -- who face up to seven years in jail -- has sparked an international outcry. Here's a look at the early activism of Pussy Riot members and their families and friends.
Pussy Riot: The Early Years
![Activists Yekaterina Samutsevich (left), Oleg Vorotnikov (center), and Natalia Sokol travel on the outside of a commuter train near Moscow after refusing to buy tickets in June 2008. Samutsevich later became a member of Pussy Riot.](https://gdb.rferl.org/30afc3d8-fa99-45b2-a0c6-640f85d60a89_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Activists Yekaterina Samutsevich (left), Oleg Vorotnikov (center), and Natalia Sokol travel on the outside of a commuter train near Moscow after refusing to buy tickets in June 2008. Samutsevich later became a member of Pussy Riot.
![Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (bottom right) and fellow activists celebrate a wake for conceptual artist Dmitry Prigov in a Moscow metro carriage in August 2007. Tolokonnikova later became a member of Pussy Riot.](https://gdb.rferl.org/c5f4b277-ad13-4b4e-bbef-391006944b06_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (bottom right) and fellow activists celebrate a wake for conceptual artist Dmitry Prigov in a Moscow metro carriage in August 2007. Tolokonnikova later became a member of Pussy Riot.
![Political activists Oleg Vorotnikov (left), Pyotr Verzilov (center), and his wife, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, fetch water while living together in a car shed in Moscow in July 2008.](https://gdb.rferl.org/6ad1d8e8-8c39-479e-b28e-1c1671d716fd_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Political activists Oleg Vorotnikov (left), Pyotr Verzilov (center), and his wife, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, fetch water while living together in a car shed in Moscow in July 2008.
![Political activist Pyotr Verzilov (right) supervises the mock execution of a migrant worker and a gay man in a Moscow megastore in September 2008. Verzilov is the husband of Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.](https://gdb.rferl.org/1b523058-931d-416a-b94b-02df66cd7492_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Political activist Pyotr Verzilov (right) supervises the mock execution of a migrant worker and a gay man in a Moscow megastore in September 2008. Verzilov is the husband of Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.
![Political activist Pyotr Verzilov, the husband of Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, reads a book about anarchism by U.S. author Bob Black in Moscow in January 2009.](https://gdb.rferl.org/5bff4ee9-cce6-40ce-a2a1-eb08455234b4_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Political activist Pyotr Verzilov, the husband of Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, reads a book about anarchism by U.S. author Bob Black in Moscow in January 2009.
![Police remove Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (left), Oleg Vorotnikov (bottom right), and other activists of the art group Voina from the court after they disrupted a hearing against the director of the Sakharov Center in Moscow in May 2009.](https://gdb.rferl.org/8acdbe5c-0e08-4a7a-a449-4a009416fa24_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Police remove Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (left), Oleg Vorotnikov (bottom right), and other activists of the art group Voina from the court after they disrupted a hearing against the director of the Sakharov Center in Moscow in May 2009.
![Pyotr Verzilov (left) and his wife, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, attend the wedding anniversary of a fellow activist at an artist's studio in Moscow in January 2008.](https://gdb.rferl.org/059f6c26-237f-447e-b152-a1d5ce7ff3a1_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Pyotr Verzilov (left) and his wife, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, attend the wedding anniversary of a fellow activist at an artist's studio in Moscow in January 2008.
![Activists Pyotr Verzilov (right) and his wife, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, prepare a migrant worker for a mock execution at a Moscow megastore in September 2008.](https://gdb.rferl.org/49eb8a9a-8d85-4780-8cab-15956d37f5bf_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Activists Pyotr Verzilov (right) and his wife, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, prepare a migrant worker for a mock execution at a Moscow megastore in September 2008.
![Riot police detain a pregnant Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (center) during a dissenters' march in Moscow in March 2008.](https://gdb.rferl.org/5ad0834f-1487-4b23-8955-7d39f938e54f_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Riot police detain a pregnant Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (center) during a dissenters' march in Moscow in March 2008.
![Political activist Natalia Sokol brushes her hair as Gera, the baby of fellow activist Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, lies on a mattress in the car shed that served as the home of the Voina activist group in Moscow in July 2008.](https://gdb.rferl.org/9e1f70b6-392b-4bec-b773-a1c3a19e054a_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Political activist Natalia Sokol brushes her hair as Gera, the baby of fellow activist Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, lies on a mattress in the car shed that served as the home of the Voina activist group in Moscow in July 2008.
![Activists Yekaterina Samutsevich (right), Pyotr Verzilov (second from right), and his wife, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, attend the birth of Kasper, the first child of Oleg Vorotnikov (left) and Natalia Sokol, in a secret hideout in Moscow in June 2009.](https://gdb.rferl.org/e9e102e5-c947-4ebd-8f03-1dfd1659646b_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Activists Yekaterina Samutsevich (right), Pyotr Verzilov (second from right), and his wife, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, attend the birth of Kasper, the first child of Oleg Vorotnikov (left) and Natalia Sokol, in a secret hideout in Moscow in June 2009.
![Activist Yekaterina Samutsevich reads a book as she waits for the birth of fellow Voina member Natalia Sokol's first child, Kasper, in a secret hideout in Moscow in June 2009.](https://gdb.rferl.org/8b15b948-9ded-4cbf-9dca-2d08bb84bdf7_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Activist Yekaterina Samutsevich reads a book as she waits for the birth of fellow Voina member Natalia Sokol's first child, Kasper, in a secret hideout in Moscow in June 2009.