400 people join Canadian artist Peaches for ‘Free Pussy Riot’ video

Background actors show a balloon shaped as a mouth reading "Free Pussy Riot" during the recording of a music video of Canadian musician and performance artist Peaches in support of members of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012. (AP / dapd / Adam Berry)

Canadian electro-punk performance artist Peaches has joined the growing chorus of support for Pussy Riot, the feminist band on trial in Russia for its anti-Kremlin performance inside an Orthodox church.

Peaches, a Toronto native who lives in Germany, is set to release the video for her new song, “Free Pussy Riot,” on her Facebook page next week, ahead of the court verdict expected on Aug. 17.

Three members of the Russian punk-rock collective -- Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, Maria Alekhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29 -- were jailed after performing what they called a “punk prayer” against Russian President Vladimir Putin inside a Moscow cathedral in February.

They’ve been in prison for months on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. If convicted, the women face at least three years in prison.

The band’s arrest has been denounced by entertainers and human rights’ groups around the world who see the women as political prisoners and say their trial is just another example of Putin’s iron fist rule.

Peaches told CTV News Channel Friday that 400 people recently joined her in a Berlin park to film the video after she put out a call for volunteers on social media.

Many of them wore brightly coloured balaclavas -- Pussy Riot’s signature accessory -- and carried signs calling for the band members’ release.

Although Pussy Riot has received support from celebrities like Madonna, Peaches said she wanted to highlight what “underground” artists were doing to support the young Russian women whose act of rebellion made headlines around the world.

She said “a lot of creative people” across Europe were drafting petitions on Pussy Riot’s behalf, “but they had no voice.”

“I wanted to be a bridge,” Peaches said of her new song and video, noting that she had been a fan of Pussy Riot well before the band’s arrest thrust the women into the international spotlight.

“I know that if I lived in Russia, that could have been me,” said Peaches, who is known for her provocative performances and sexually explicit lyrics.

“This is much larger than just the three of them.”