Pussy Riot and Russia

At the moment, and I'm sure most of you guys have heard of this, there is a situation developing in Russia regarding a punk band named "Pussy Riot". The short story; they have been accused of religious intolerance and hooliganism by Russian prosecutors following a so-called "punk protest" on the altar of the Cathedral of Christ Our Saviour in Moscow, one of the most iconic and traditional Cathedrals in the Russian Federation.

Here is an article for those who are not familiar with the story:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0807/breaking18.html

The group is composed of three women; Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich. They originally were to be put under for the maximum of seven years but recently that has been cut to three years.

The group members themselves look a bit like the Rubber Bandits with tea cosies on their heads.

Several high profile western musicians such as Sting and Madonna have spoken out in support of Pussy Riot.

While there is a lot of debate on this at present, I'd like to first present both points of view:

On one side, people are saying this is a representation of the general crackdown on dissent by Putin following the protests over there. Pussy Riot's "punk prayer" was laced with anti-Putin lyrics and was generally oppositional in nature. It called upon the Virgin Mary to remove Putin. The defence lawyers of Pussy Riot are (like they did for Khodorkovsky before them) representing the case as the brutal Russian state out for revenge against dissenters or those who are against the system.

In the middle, however, we have people who believe that Pussy Riot should be punished, but that 3 or seven years is far too harsh a punishment and, rather than representing an authoritarian streak in Putin, it represents the draconian Russian legal system which is in need of reform. A poll by the Levada Centre here;http://www.forbes.com/sites/markadomanis/2012/07/31/what-do-russians-think-about-pussy-riot-the-answer-might-surprise-you/ (scroll down a bit for the table) found that most Russians were in favour of at least a punishment. 29% said forced labour would be viable. Only 5% said they should be let go scot-free. Putin said:

....that there was "nothing good" about the February protest which saw the band performing a "punk prayer" at the altar of the Christ the Saviour Cathedral, calling on the Virgin Mary to "Throw Putin out!"
"Nonetheless, I don't think that they should be judged so harshly for this,"

On the other end, we have people, exemplified by the Orthodox clergy, whose Jimmies were truly rustled by such an act. The fact that the punk group danced (scantily clad) on an altar reserved for priests in Russia's most famous church was compounded by the fact that their song contained scatological references. Patriarch Kirill himself was outraged at the "punk prayer" and said that the group were "doing the work of Satan". many Russians (as seen in the Levada poll) also wanted to see the group go under for "two years at least". in another poll, 70% of Russians said their opinions of the Orthodox Church "remained unchanged".

As for my opinion? Putin will probably allow them to be punished in some way to appease the Orthodox demographic, and the powerful church, but as for Russia becoming a dictatorship, I doubt it. As this case is so high profile, I presume Putin will show an air of leniency to help his public image.

As the situation is fluid I will be giving constant updates.

P.S Again, I have a pure hatred for troll comments like "Putinhitler kills babies!!!1" or "Nashi is Putinjugend!!!1!" so try and avoid them like the plague. Cheers!