MOSCOW, July 28 (RAPSI) - Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova are suing Russia for 250,000 euros in a suit filed with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The amount includes 120,000 euros in moral damages for each of the claimants and 10,000 euros to cover legal expenses, RIA Novosti reports citing Vedomosti.

Earlier in a suit with the Strasbourg court, the defense team requested that the court find the Russian officials guilty of violating the right to free expression, the right to liberty and security, the prohibition of torture and the right to a fair trial (articles 10, 5, 3 and 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights).

Andrei Fyodorov, Chief of staff of the Russian representative in the ECHR, told Vedomosti that the Moscow office had yet to receive Tolokonnikova’s and Alyokhina’s case materials.

According to the newspaper, a source in the Russian Ministry of Justice believes the amount requested is unrealistic since similar ECtHR cases haven’t involved so much money.

In February 2012, five young women went to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and, wearing balaklavas, performed a so-called punk prayer. The video with the performance was posted online and received a huge public response. The police detained all three members of the band, Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich. On August 17, 2012, the Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow sentenced them to two years in a general security prison for hooliganism. On October 10, the Moscow City Court suspended Samutsevich’s sentence. In December 2013, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were pardoned under the amnesty dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution.