MOSCOW, May 22 (RAPSI) - The State Duma has adopted during the second reading a bill on criminal responsibility for actions that cause religious offence, mitigating the maximum punishment from five to three years in prison on Tuesday.

The bill was submitted to the lower house by the four parliamentary parties in late September 2012. By the second reading, MPs rejected the idea of adding an article to the Criminal Code stipulating up to five years in prison for causing religious offence. Instead, they proposed amending Article 148 on liability for preventing believers from exercising the right to the freedom of belief and worship.

The MPs propose punishment for public actions which are explicitly disrespectful of society and intend to insult believers, including in places of worship, prayer and other religious rites. In addition to imprisonment, the bill introduces fines of up to 500,000 rubles ($16,035), compulsory community service and correctional labor.

The bill was drafted last year after punk band Pussy Riot performed a protest song against President Putin in Moscow's main cathedral, causing uproar with Russian religious community. Two Pussy Riot members are now serving prison terms in penal colonies.