Pussy Riot case to be reviewed in Russia
Supreme Court says lower court could not fully prove the punk band’s guilt after they were imprisoned last year.
Russia’s Supreme Court has ordered a review of the case against two jailed members of the Pussy Riot punk band saying that a lower court did not fully prove their guilt.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred in August 2012 following an impromptu protest against Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral.
They were sentenced to two years in prison each.
Samutsevich was released several months later on suspended sentence.
The Supreme Court said in a ruling published on Thursday that the lower courts overlooked the women’s circumstances that would have allowed for more lenient sentences.
Tolokonnikova and Alekhina are scheduled for release in March, but it is unclear if they will be set free earlier by a lower court reviewing their case.
Tolokonikova was placed in solitary confinement in Septemberafter she went on hunger strike to protest against the harsh conditions of their imprisonment.