The trial to hear an appeal from jailed Pussy Riot punk rock group member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova began on Friday (April 27).

Tolokonnikova, 23, was convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, and is currently serving out a two year sentence in a remote Russian penal colony.

Activists said her trial, and that of two band mates, was part of a crackdown on dissent.

Tolokonnikova's band mate Maria Alyokhina, 24, is serving her sentence in a penal colony near the town of Berezniki in Russia's Perm region.

"The defence is ready for a full day of procedures, we have prepared a lot of petitions, statements that obviously highlight the fact that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has all the rights for early release on parole, "Peter Verzilov, Tolokonnikova's husband, said.

"I would like to quote Masha Alyokhina (another jailed Pussy Riot member) from one of her trials of same kind in Berezniki, in Perm region. She said that there's little chance that a miracle will happen here today but I would still want to hope for it," Verzilov added.

Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich were arrested and convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" last year for staging a performance in Moscow's biggest cathedral, in which they called on the Virgin Mary to send Russian President Vladimir Putin away.

The group said they were protesting the close ties between the government and the church, whose leader praised Putin during his successful campaign for a March 2012 presidential election after four years as prime minister.

Samutsevich was released on appeal, but the other two women are confined to cells in remote women's prisons.

Putin, a former KGB officer who has cultivated close ties with the church over 13 years in power, has rejected criticism from the United States and European leaders who called the two-year sentences disproportionate.

Presented by Adam Justice