See the Pussy Riot Video That Was Banned in Russia

Punk band loses bid to prevent footage of their famous "punk-prayer" from being censored in Russia

Last October, two members of the feminist rock band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in a penal colony for storming a Russian Orthodox Church and performing a "punk prayer."

Now per published reports, a Moscow city court has upheld a November lower court decision that banned four videos of the controversial performance at the Russian metropilis' Christ the Savior Cathedral, which led to three of the band members' arrest.

Pussy Riot's Yekaterina Samutsevich—who was convicted along with bandmates Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for her role in the protest but later set free—lost an appeal to stop the video from being censored after the court ruled that she was not an interested party.

A ban on the videos, which helped make Pussy Riot a cause célèbre for human rights activists, went into immediate effect in Russia following the ruling on the grounds they violate the country's "extremism" law. Any Russian Internet providers who fail to take the footage down face up to $3,000 in fines.

Curious? Check out Pussy Riot's act and decide for yourself.