Pussy Riot Nominated For NME Award In U.K.

Members of Pussy Riot in their "flash-mob"-style performance at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.

The British magazine "New Musical Express" (NME) has nominated Russia's all-female punk protest group Pussy Riot for two of its annual awards.

NME announced on January 22 that Pussy Riot will be considered in the categories of Hero Of The Year and Music Moment Of The Year.

The magazine's awards will be presented at a ceremony on February 27 in London.

Three Pussy Riot members, Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich were arrested in February 2012 for staging a performance protesting the rule of President Vladimir Putin in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.

The three were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred."

Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova are now serving two-year prison sentences.

Samutsevich received a suspended sentence.

Based on reporting by BBC and RFE/RL