Pussy Riot Sentenced to 15 Days in Jail for Running Onto the Field During the World Cup Final

On Sunday, as your sports-literate friends watched France take home their second FIFA World Cup victory ever (and first in 20 years!) in a match against Croatia, four people dressed in Russian law enforcement uniforms rushed the field before security tackled and removed them. Turns out, Pussy Riot was responsible, and now those punk musician-activists are going to prison for fifteen days.

The protesters, who Art Forum has identified as Veronica “Nika” Nikulshina, Olga Kuracheva, Olga Pakhtusova, and Petya Verzilov, appeared in Moscow’s Khamovnichesky court Monday, where they were sentenced to two weeks in prison.

Shortly after being stopped by security at the World Cup final, Pussy Riot named their protest-performance on social media (“Policeman enters the game”), disclosed that the date was chosen to commemorate the death of Russian poet Dmitriy Prigov (not to be confused with Dmitry Enteo, the far-right extremist Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina is dating) and circulated a list of six demands:

1. Let all political prisoners free.

2. Not imprison for “likes”.

3. Stop illegal arrests on rallies.

4. Allow political competition in the country.

5. Not fabricate criminal accusations and not keep people in jails for no reason.

6. Turn the earthly policeman into the heavenly policeman.

On Tuesday, in the wake of their sentencing, Pussy Riot released a new single and video titled “Track About Good Cop.” Listen below.