Moscow Court Frees 1 of 3 Pussy Riot Members

A Moscow City Court has freed one of the jailed Pussy Riot members but upheld the two-year prison sentence for the two others.

During the appeal hearing on Wednesday, a Moscow City Court judge left in place the two-year prison terms for Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Maria Alyokhina, 24, and issued a suspended sentence for Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30.

On August 17, the Khamovnichesky District Court in Moscow sentenced the three punk band members to two years of imprisonment.

The three Pussy Riot members were convicted of hooliganism and inciting religious hatred for storming into Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral and performing a "punk prayer".

On February 21, 2012, just two weeks before the presidential elections, Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina, and Samutsevich called on the Virgin Mary to "drive Putin away".

During the trial, the three members of the punk rock band apologized to Russian Orthodox believers if they felt they had been insulted but rejected a proposal for public repentance.

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