Pussy Riot could be released from jail this week

The two remaining imprisoned Pussy Riot members could be released as early as Thursday (19 December), reports say.

With Russia’s parliament unanimously approving President Putin’s recent amnesty bill, there are hopes that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina could soon be released as a result.

“According to the draft law passed today, my clients will be freed,” the pair’s lawyer Irina Khrunova recently told Bloomberg.

The amnesty could also see around 1,300 people released from prison, 17,500 people relieved of non-custodial sentences and 6,000 criminal proceedings suspended. Recently jailed Greenpeace members, who were protesting oil drilling in the Arctic, may also be amongst those released.

Last year, three members of the punk band were found guilty of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and were sentenced to two years in jail following the performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The song requested that the Virgin Mary drive Russian president Vladimir Putin from power.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Maria Alyokhina, 24, have been named prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International. Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, was released last October.

[via FACT]