Yahoo Lifestyle Pussy Riot Member Released
In a case that has more twists and turns that an episode of Law & Order, a Russian appeals court unexpectedly freed Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich on Wednesday. However, it upheld the two-year prison sentences for Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina.
The trio was jailed for two years in August, after they staged a “punk prayer” protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s main Russian Orthodox cathedral in February.
The appeal court ruled Samutsevich’s sentence should be suspended because she was thrown out of the cathedral by guards before she could take part in the dancing protest on the cathedral’s altar.
Samutsevich told CNN that she would be “more cautious” in her actions going forward, and although Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina are "very, very upset" about being separated from their children, “they are holding up very well”.
