After Soccer Stunt, Members of Pussy Riot Get Punishments

Four members of Pussy Riot who ran onto the field during the World Cup soccer final will spend 15 days in jail. Veronika Nikulshina, Olga Kuracheva, Olga Pakhtusova, and Petya Verzilov also are banned from attending sporting events for three years, reports ABC News. The four took advantage of the world spotlight and disrupted the game to protest Vladimir Putin's policies and to demand the release of political prisoners. Among the offenses that factored into the sentencing: The protesters wore police uniforms during the stunt.

Meanwhile, the European Court of Human Rights awarded $43,500 to the group over the prison sentences members received for their now-famous protest performance at a church in 2012, reports the Moscow Times. “Domestic courts had failed to justify why it had been necessary to convict and sentence the applicants to terms of imprisonment,” the ECHR said in a release. Two members served 16 months in prison. The anti-Kremlin group formed in 2011 and has featured various members ever since, notes the BBC. (More Pussy Riot stories.)