Russian punk group Pussy Riot sentenced to three years in jail for hooliganism

People do protest around mosques. And besides, christianity is founded by a guy who apparently trashed a temple after riding into it on a donkey, so churches are fair game for protest on that basis alone. Also, the russian government isn't trying to co-opt islam in the same way that it is trying to co-opt the orthodox church, so doing this at a mosque wouldn't carry the same political message.

Well, they did apologize for doing so, and say that in retrospect choosing the church as a protest venue was a mistake. Part of the issue with the Church in Russia is that it is not really just another religion, but closely tied to the state, so they probably thought of protesting there as a way of protesting against the state (their song was against Putin). It doesn't help that the Patriarch has close ties to Putin.

I don't have a problem with citing them for trespassing, in any case. It's more the over-the-top response of the Patriarch in calling for the State to root out devilry and blasphemy that I find slightly troubling, especially given the Orthodox Church's historical role in actually using the resources of the state for such purposes.

I don't doubt they would fare no better in many conservative Muslim countries if they ran into a mosque and started playing music deemed offensive to the government. But that's a fairly low bar to match. I don't think they would receive a jail sentence in North America or Western Europe if they did something similar. I can't imagine the Danish courts giving a jail sentence to someone who ran into a church of the Danish National Church, and played blasphemous or anti-Queen music. They'd probably just get a fine for trespassing or disorderly conduct, if anything more than a warning.