Pussy Riot Members Granted Amnesty After Serving Time In Prison [VIDEO & REPORT]

Maria Alyokhina and Nadia Tolokonnikova were released under an amnesty allowing early release from a two-year sentence after a protest against President Vladimir Putin, according to a Reuters report.

Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred when the group's "punk prayer' criticized the Russian president's ties to the Church.

Alyokihna, 25, is serving a two-year sentence after leading a profane protest against Putin while the president was inside a Russian Orthodox church last year.

Amid the amnesty, Alyokhina said that Putin's proposed amnesty is just a PR stunt in order to deflect criticisms against human rights abuses in Russia. Russia will be hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.

According to lawyers, the amnesty will also allow 30 people avoid trial on hooliganism charges. The 30 arrested in Russia were Greenpeace protesters who lobbied against Arctic oil drilling.

The Russian president insisted that the granting of the amnesty has nothing to do with the Greenpeace activists or Pussy Riot.

"I do not think it is a humanitarian act, I think it is a PR stunt," she told Reuters in a telephone interview. "My attitude to the president has not changed."

Alyokhina also said that if she would have her way, she would refuse the amnesty as a sign of her solidarity for those still in jail. She said she plans to lobby for the rights of the prisoners.

"I was keen to reject this amnesty, but the prison had received an order that is why I was brought here," she told Reuters. "I would like now to deal with the issue of prison, I would like to engage in human rights ... I'm not afraid of anything anymore - believe me."

Another Pussy Riot member, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 24, was also freed under the amnesty. Her Husband Pyotr Verzilov waited for her release from jail in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.

Yekaterina Samutsevich, the band's third member, was released last year when a judge suspended her sentence on appeal.

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