Siberian wants 30,000 roubles for 'moral damages' by Pussy Riot, with 11 similar claims to follow

This week in Moscow three singers from punk group Pussy Riot will hear whether they face jail over an anti-Vladimir Putin protest in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. 

Prosecutors have demanded three years prison for the women in a case that has led to huge divisions of opinion in Russia and a spate of criticism of 'authoritarianism' from the West. 

Meanwhile, a Novosibirsk woman has now claimed the Pussy Riot protest - lasting less than one minute - has caused her such anguish that she deserves around $930 in compensation. 

Her legal demand comes after Irina Ruzankina watched the protest on television in Siberia rather than in the cathedral, three time zones away. 

'Breaching church canons was of detriment to the sacred values of Christian faith and an encroachment on the sacraments of the church, which deeply hurt my feelings and my senses', claimed the plaintiff.

'Irina Ruzankina's lawsuit has been handed over to the judge, who is due to decide upon it in the very near future', said a court spokeswoman at Moscow's Kuntsevsky Court.

Novosibirsk-based lawyer Andrei Krestyanov, speaking to Russian 'Fontanka' newspaper said it was his idea to sue Pussy Riot for money. 

'Some people were thinking about signing letters of protest against the group, but we told them off it.

'Don't waste your time. It is to sue for moral damage, and demand financial compensation, we said. Even if it will be only 10,000 roubles won for every claim you submitted, it will teach others a lesson and stop them from copying the band', Krestyanov said. 

He expects eleven more people to sue 'Pussy Riot' for moral damages with his company's help. 

'It will be twelve people together with Irina - like twelve apostles', Krestyanov told 'Fontanka'. 

Judge Marina Syrova will give her verdict on 17 August in the main Pussy Riot case, which Kremlin critics say is a 'show trial' aimed at silencing those opposed to President Putin. 

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, have been in custody for five months.

Prosecutors say it was hooliganism involving religious hatred and justifies three years in jail. 

The women deny this, arguing that they were making a political protest against church support for Putin ahead of this year's Russian presidential election. 

They have issued apologies in court to any believers offended by their stunt.

In 2003 Ruzankina sought to run for the governorship of Novosibirsk region but her name was not included on the ballot.