Pussy Riot judge's attacker arrested

© RIA Novosti, Andrei Stenin

09:57 24/04/2012

MOSCOW, April 24 - RAPSI. The man who attacked the judge handling the Pussy Riot case with an axe has been arrested for two months.

Moscow resident Andrei Borodin, 36, burst into the office of a Tagansky District Court judge wielding an axe and demanding the release of the Pussy Riot punk group members. The judge resisted the attack and Borodin was detained.

Both the investigator who filed the case against him and the prosecutor asked the court to place Borodin in custody. The defense is entitled to contest the ruling within three days.

The court ruled last week that three Pussy Riot members would remain in custody until at least June 24 for their anti-Putin protest in the Moscow's largest cathedral.

All three protesters face up to seven years on hooliganism charges. A date for their trial has yet to be set as the investigation into the case still continues.

Some 300 people gathered in front of the court demanding freedom for the suspects, who were detained in March. Police detained some 30 demonstrators wearing t-shirts in support of the group.

Five masked Pussy Riot members performed a protest song entitled "Holy Sh*t" at the altar of the Christ the Savior Cathedral in downtown Moscow on February 21. Pussy Riot said it was a response to head of the Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill's backing of President-elect Vladimir Putin in the run-up to his March 4 election landslide. The patriarch called the 12-year Putin's rule a "miracle of God" in a televised meeting.