Pussy Riot member released

Yekaterina Samutsevich freed

An appellate court in Moscow released Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, a member of the anti-Putin punk band, Pussy Riot, but upheld prison sentences for two. It changed her sentence from two years in prison to two years probation. Her two bandmates, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, who both have young children were unsuccessful and sent back to prison to serve the remainder of their two-year sentence.

In previous hearings, there was considerable evidence that Samutsevich neither sang nor danced  by the altar. She barely managed to get her guitar out of its case before being nabbed by a security guard. Samutsevich is not even seen in the video of the incident, which has created a sensation online. Anna Usacheva, the court’s press secretary, issued only a brief explanation following the decision: “The court made a conclusion that the correction of Samutsevich would be possible without her isolation from society.”

In a heated hearing on Wednesday, Samutsevich apologized to believers and insisted that she did not consider the performance at the church a crime. Ten days prior, she changed her lawyer, saying the original defender “had let her down.”

Pussy Riot in their short dresses and bright balaclavas

In February, the band donned short dresses and bright balaclavas and sang a “punk prayer” denouncing Russian President Vladimir Putin at Moscow’s Church of Christ the Savior. Almost immediately, the three were arrested on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. The three were jailed in August for a demonstration in the form of a controversial song performance, against Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow's main cathedral.

Before their church performance, Pussy Riot was virtually unknown—both inside Russia and on the international stage. Yet the government’s response to the incident—widely seen as heavy-handed—came after a wave of protests against President Vladimir Putin, who formally returned to power in March. Since their arrest, the band has attracted popular supporters such as Madonna, Yoko Ono, and Paul McCartney. And after their initial guilty verdict in August, protesters took to the streets in Moscow, while colorful balaclavas began appearing on monuments throughout the city.

From L to R : Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alekhina
and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

Despite Samutsevich’s release, critics continue to point to the judge’s decision on the other two band members as a miscarriage of justice. “The country is falling apart,” said Gennady Gudkov, a member of the opposition, who was recently expelled from Parliament. “But the system continues to go after young mothers. Instead, the Kremlin, which has been behind every decision in the Pussy Riot case, should punish those who kept…Samutsevich in jail for half a year.”

- By Moupriya Das