Canadian performer Peaches films video in support of Russian band Pussy Riot

BERLIN – About 400 people joined Canadian electro-pop performance artist Peaches in a Berlin park to show support for the members of a feminist band on trial in Russia for performing a “punk prayer” against President Vladimir Putin.

The three Pussy Riot band members are awaiting a verdict next week in their Moscow trial on charges of hooliganism motivated religious hatred for the February performance.

The trial has been seen as part of the widening government crackdown on dissent in Russia and has been widely criticized.

Peaches, who lives in Berlin, told the dapd news agency in a story Thursday that the crowd showed up in Berlin’s Mauerpark Wednesday after she spread the word over social media networks that she needed people for a video for her newly-penned song “Free Pussy Riot.”