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An appellate hearing has begun in Moscow in the hooliganism case that resulted in two-year jail sentences for three members of the punk collective group Pussy Riot for performing a protest song in a church, Radio Liberty reported.

The panel of three judges hearing the appeal on October 10 quickly rejected a request by the defense team to dismiss the "expert analysis" at the heart of the case that asserts that the defendants' actions were motivated by "religious hatred or hostility."

Addressing the court, the defendants acknowledged that it might be their last opportunity to appear in public "for two years" and criticized the conduct of their trial and the effect of Putinism on Russia and its image abroad.

Security was stepped up ahead of the session, and Pussy Riot supporters and journalists were gathered outside the courtroom, listening to the proceedings via a live Internet broadcast from inside.

Sources inside the courtroom said participants could hear applause erupting from the crowd in front of the building at a number of points in the proceedings.

The hearing for the three defendants -- Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich -- was adjourned last week after Samutsevich asked to replace her defense lawyer.

In August, the three women were convicted on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years in prison after performing a song critical of Putin and of the Russian Orthodox Church at Moscow's largest cathedral in February.

WATCH: RFE/RL's Russian Service live-streams its coverage outside the courtroom (in Russian)

The expert opinion underpinning the hooliganism convictions was the result of three such reports commissioned by prosecutors, reportedly after the first two failed to find evidence to back up the charge that the women were targeting the church in particular.

Key Question Over 'Religious Hatred'

At the October 10 hearing, defense lawyers argued that the women committed no crime because there was no element of "religious hatred" behind their actions.

Defendant Alekhina reiterated to the appeals judges that the expert opinion was incompetent and that their convictions risked discrediting the Russian legal system in the world's eyes.

Their performance, in Christ the Savior Cathedral, a major Russian Orthodox landmark, mainly criticized Vladimir Putin ahead of his reelection to the Russian presidency.

Alekhina said she and the other members of Pussy Riot hadn't intended to "insult Christians" but rather to protest "the merging of church and state."

At another point in the appeals hearing, presiding judge Larisa Polyakova cut off defendant Tolokonnikova as the latter was criticizing Putin and his effect on Russian society and discussing Pussy Riot's political motives.

The sentencing sparked an international outcry, with Western diplomats, human rights activists, and musicians calling the verdict an attack on the freedom of expression.

Praise and penitence

They have been shortlisted by the European Parliament for the prestigious Sakharov Prize, an honor named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov to people and organizations that have fought for human rights and freedom of thought.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev suggested last month that it was "unproductive" for the Pussy Riot trio to spend more time in jail.

But President Putin said more recently that the Moscow court ruled correctly because "it is impermissible to undermine our moral foundations, moral values, to try to destroy the country."

Orthodox Church authorities have urged the women to publicly express "repentance and regret."