A jailed member of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, who was found guilty of hooliganism after a performance critical of President Vladimir Putin, has been released from prison, her lawyer said Monday.
Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years in prison for the performance at Moscow’s main cathedral in March 2012. Samutsevich was released several months later on suspended sentence.
The band insisted that their protest was meant to raise their concern about increasingly close ties between the state and the church.
Alekhina’s lawyer, Irina Khrunova, told The Associated Press that Alekhina was released from the prison colony outside the Volga river city of Nizhny Novgorod on Monday morning. Khrunova said that upon release Alekhina went into town to meet with human rights activists.
Source: Associated Press