Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

Police officers stand near an empty defendant's cage in a courtroom in Moscow on March 11, 2013. The court postponed the trial of Sergei Magnitsky, a dead lawyer who accused law-enforcement authorities of massive corruption and whose case sparked a dispute between Washington and Moscow.

Mikhail Voskresensky / Reuters

Flowers lie near the grave of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in the Preobrazhensky cemetery in Moscow on March 11, 2013.

Journalists crowded into a packed Moscow courtroom on Monday to witness a legal first: the first prosecution of a dead person in Russian history. But the case was postponed as the absence of defendant Sergei Magnitsky — who died in 2009 — was compounded by the non-appearance of his legal team.

Magnitsky is charged with tax evasion and fraud — similar to accusations that he had leveled against police and tax officials — in a case that sparked a dispute between Washington and Moscow when Congress passed a law named after Magnitsky.

"The defense team ... believes that they have not yet fully acquainted themselves with the 60 volumes of case materials,"  Judge Igor Alisov said, looking down on the barred cage usually reserved for the accused and the empty seats where Magnitsky's lawyers should have sat. Alisov postponed the trial until March 22.

-- Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report

Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP - Getty Images

Members of the all-girl punk band "Pussy Riot" (left to right)Yekaterina Samutsevich, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, are escorted by policewomen in Moscow on Agust 17.

Sergey Ponomarev / AP

Feminist punk group Pussy Riot members, from left, Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia on Friday, Aug 17.

Update: 10:03 am ET: The three band members were found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison

Today a Moscow court will pass judgement on the three women from a punk band called, Pussy Riot, who captured the world's attention by defying the Russian authorities and ridiculing President Vladimir Putin in a church. Pussy Riot release rallies have stretched from Sydney to New York as a growing list of celebrities joined ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and pop icon Madonna in a campaign directed against Putin's crackdown on dissent. The women, two of whom have young children, are charged with hooliganism connected to religious hatred but the case is widely seen as a warning that authorities will only tolerate opposition under tightly controlled conditions. T-shirt on right worn by Tolokonnikova is Spanish and translates to "They shall not pass", a slogan often used to express determination to defend a position against an enemy.

Full story.

Nick Ut / AP

Brian Banks becomes emotional as his attorney Justin Brooks, right, and attorney Alissa Bjerkhoel stand by, as Banks' rape conviction is dismissed on Thursday in Long Beach, Calif. It has been 10 years since Banks, then 16, pleaded no contest to a rape charge brought after a childhood friend falsely accused him of attacking her on their high school campus, shattering his dreams of a pro career.

Nick Ut / AP

Brian Banks, center, reacts with his mother, Leomia Myers and father, Jonathan Banks, outside court after his rape conviction was dismissed on Thursday.

Linda Deutsch of the Orange County Register reports that though Banks maintained his innocence, "his lawyer urged him to plead no contest rather than risk a sentence of 41 years to life in prison if convicted."

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Heiko Junge / Pool via AFP - Getty Images

Rightwing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in twin attacks in Norway last year, makes a salute as he enters an Oslo court on April 16, 2012.

Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

Anders Behring Breivik has his handcuffs removed as he arrives for the first day of his trial.

Heiko Junge / AFP - Getty Images

Anders Behring Breivik sheds a tear as the court views a propaganda film he made before he carried out the deadliest attacks in post-war Norwegian history.

Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

Members of the judiciary are pictured in the courtroom during the first day of the trial of Anders Behring Breivik.

Ian Johnston, msnbc.com reports — Anti-Islam militant Anders Behring Breivik admitted he had killed 77 people in a massacre last July, but said he was pleading not guilty to the criminal charges against him on the first day of his trial in Norway Monday, The Associated Press reported.

As he arrived in court - the early part of the session was broadcast on television - Breivik gave a salute, raising his arm with his first clenched.

He said that he did not "acknowledge the authority of the court." Read more.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Photo of Anders Behring Breivik minutes after arrest
• Portraits put a face on Norway massacre
• Security cameras captured images of Norway killer
• Norway killer reconstructs Utoya shooting spree for police

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Odd Andersen / AFP - Getty Images

Eskil Pedersen, second left, leader of the Labour party youth wing and Utoya survivor, is seated next to lawyer John Christian Elden, left, as they wait for the start of the trial.

Stoyan Nenov / Reuters

People look from inside a tram as they pass by the court in Oslo where the trial of Anders Behring Breivik is being held.

Slideshow: Norway mourns after massacre

The nation looks to rally after a bombing and shooting spree leaves 77 people dead.

Launch slideshow

Photos by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Same-sex couple Frank Capley-Alfano. left, and Joe Capley-Alfano celebrate outside of City Hall on Feb. 7, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif.. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the voter-approved Proposition 8 measure violates the civil rights of gay men and lesbians.

Breana Hansen, left, and Monica Chacon kiss as they celebrate outside of San Francisco City Hall on Tuesday.

NBC News and news services report the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has declared California's Proposition 8 unconstitutional, paving the way for a likely U.S. Supreme Court showdown on the voter-approved law, NBC News reported.

"Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples," said Judge Stephen Reinhardt in the majority opinion. "The Constitution simply does not allow for 'laws of this sort'."

Proposition 8 backers had asked the 9th Circuit to set aside a previous judge’s ruling on constitutional grounds and because that judge later revealed he was gay. It was the first instance of an American jurist's sexual orientation being cited as grounds for overturning a court decision.

Read the full decision (pdf file)

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The AP reports from JAKARTA, Indonesia: 

 The Indonesian Muslim cleric known as spiritual leader of the militants who carried out the deadly 2002 Bali bombings was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison for his role in supporting a militant camp uncovered last year.

Abu Bakar Bashir's conviction for incitement of terrorism followed two unsuccessful attempts by prosecutors over the past eight years to link him to terror activities, including a conviction that was later overturned in the Bali attacks that killed 202 people. The lengthy sentence against Bashir, now 72, suggests Indonesia's continuing resolve to tackle its deadly extremist movement.

The verdict was announced amid high security at a Jakarta court where hundreds of Bashir supporters gathered, some with placards saying "Free Abu Bakar Bashir." Nearly 3,200 police and soldiers secured the area after bomb threats spread through Twitter and text messages. Continue reading.

Romeo Gacad / AFP - Getty Images

Radical Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir (sitting center, back to camera) listens to the judges' verdict as he is convicted by a court in Jakarta on terrorism charges on June 16.

Dimas Ardian / Getty Images

Abu Bakar Bashir is seen behind bars before his hearing verdict at the South Jakarta District Court on June 16.

Dimas Ardian / Getty Images

Supporters of Abu Bakar Bashir pray outside court as he is sentenced on June 16.

Julia Darashkevich / Reuters

Belarussian opposition activist Pavel Severinets is guarded by policemen during a court hearing in Minsk on May 11. Severinets appeared in court on Wednesday as trials of activists arrested on December 19 for rallying against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko continue.

Related content on PhotoBlog:
Russian citizens on trial in Belarus, March 10.
Politicians and protesters detained in critized Belarus election, December 20.
Presidential candidate beaten as election protests turn violent in Belarus, December 19.