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Russian activist barred from trial

MOSCOW, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was barred from testifying as a witness in the Moscow trial of the rock group Pussy Riot.

Court bailiffs denied Navalny access to Khamovniki Court, where three member of the feminist punk band is on trial for hooliganism. Defense lawyers said his testimony as a character witness would have been beneficial.

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The band members are on trial over the performance of a "punk prayer" on Feb. 21, with lyrics calling on then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to resign and including insults directed at the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. The defendants claim their song was a response to church support for Putin's reelection campaign, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti said Friday.

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