Moscow court frees 1, jails 2 Pussy Riot members
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Feminist punk group Pussy Riot members, (from left), Maria Alekhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow on Wednesday, Oct 10, 2012. Moscow appeals court freed Yekaterina Samutsevich of jailed band Pussy Riot but upheld a prison sentence for Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina. -- PHOTO: AP
MOSCOW (AP) - A Moscow appeals court has freed one of the jailed Pussy Riot members but upheld the two-year prison sentence for the two others.
All three women were convicted in August of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for an irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin.
They argued in court on Wednesday that their impromptu performance inside Moscow's main cathedral in February was political in nature and not an attack on religion.
Ekaterina Samutsevich was given a suspended sentence, according to the decision read out by a Moscow City Court judge, while Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina will remain in jail, said the judge, Larisa Bolyakova.
