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Artist News Legal
Pussy Riot members could be released today
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 19 December 2013
Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina may be released from prison as soon as today, after Russia’s amnesty bill was passed by the country’s parliament yesterday.
As previously reported, proposed by president Vladimir Putin to mark the 20th anniversary of Russia’s post-Soviet constitution, the amnesty bill looks to free prisoners who have been jailed for certain non-violent crimes, and could favour women with dependent children, such as Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina.
The two women’s lawyer Irina Khrunova told ITAR-TASS: “As a matter of fact, the situation entirely depends on whether the administrations of their penal colonies want their soonest release, but I think they would not like to procrastinate the release process for the two girls”.
It was also recently reported that Russia’s Supreme Court has ordered a review of the two women’s convictions (along with that of a third member of the group) for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” last year. The court said last week that the prosecution in their case had failed to demonstrate that the three artists were motivated by hatred towards one specific group, which is required in cases of this kind.
The court also criticised the judges in the case for not taking into account that both Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina had young children when sentencing.
