MOSCOW, November 9 - RAPSI. Prosecutors have filed with Zamoskvoretsky District Court to declare as extremist the video footage of Pussy Riot's now infamous punk rock prayer in the Christ the Savior Cathedral, court press secretary Yevgenia Pazukhina told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Friday.

The basis of the prosecutorial application is a psychological and linguistic examination conducted after an inquiry submitted to the Prosecutor General's office by State Duma lawmaker Alexander Starovoytov of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Earlier, Pazukhina told RAPSI that the court has rejected freed Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich's request to be involved in this claim. The reason was that no claim by the prosecutor's office to have the video declared extremist had yet reached the court.

Samutsevich submitted the application because she fears the court will side with the prosecutor's office and declare the video extremist, which she believes will violate her rights, Gazeta.ru has reported.

In late February, five young women wearing brightly colored balaclavas performed a "punk-style" prayer at the altar of Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. An edited video of their performance that was posted on the Internet caused a public outcry. Members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, and Samutsevich were arrested shortly thereafter.

The Khamovnichesky District Court sentenced the three Pussy Riot members to two years in prison on August 17. Later, the Moscow City Court commuted Samutsevich's sentence from two years in prison to immediate release on probation due to the fact that she was detained by security prior to reaching the stage and did not actually participate in the protest.

The judge left Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina's sentences intact.