 On February 26 , a criminal case was opened against the band members who had participated in the February 21 , 2012 Moscow cathedral performance . On March 3 , Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova , two alleged members of Pussy Riot , were arrested by the Russian authorities and accused of hooliganism . Both women at first denied being members of the group and started a hunger strike in protest against being held in jail away from their young children . The defendants were held without bail . On March 16 , another woman , Yekaterina Samutsevich , who had earlier been questioned as a witness in the case , was similarly arrested and charged . 
