Yekaterina Samutsevich, a member of the Pussy Riot group, was freed by a Moscow appeals court on Wednesday. However the court upheld the two-year prison sentence for the two other members of the band, who were jailed for an irreverent protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
STORY: Let ‘Em Out! Pussy Riot Could Be Freed By Russian Court If…
Back in August, all three women were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.
The group garnered worldwide attention and support, as they claimed their impromptu performance inside Moscow’s main cathedral in February was political in nature, and not an attack on religion.
As reported by the Associated Press:
The Moscow City Court ruled that Yekaterina’s sentence should be suspended because she was thrown out of the cathedral by guards before she could remove her guitar from its case and take part in the performance.
“The punishment for an incomplete crime is much lighter than for a completed one,” said Samutsevich’s lawyer, Irina Khrunova. “She did not participate in the actions the court found constituted hooliganism.”
Dressed in neon-colored miniskirts and tights, with homemade balaclavas on their heads, the women performed a “punk prayer” asking Virgin Mary to save Russia from Putin as he headed into a March election that would hand him a third term.
“If we unintentionally offended any believers with our actions, we express our apologies,” said Samutsevich, who along with Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova spoke in court from inside a glass cage known colloquially as the “aquarium.”
“The idea of the protest was political, not religious,” she said. “In this and in previous protests we acted against the current government of the president, and against the Russian Orthodox Church as an institution of the Russian government, against the political comments of the Russian patriarch. Exactly because of this I don’t consider that I committed a crime.”
Hopefully the judge will rule and release the other two members of the progressive rock group. Free Pussy Riot!
SOURCE: AP
