Pussy Riot Members Freed From Russian Prison

The two remaining jailed members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot have been freed under an amnesty initiated by President Vladimir Putin.

They had been found guilty of hooliganism after a performance critical of the leader and were due to be released in March.

Maria Alyokhina, 25, was the first to be freed early from a two-year prison sentence.

But she dismissed the amnesty as a '"PR stunt", adding: "I do not think it is a humanitarian act. My attitude to the president has not changed."

Her lawyer Irina Khrunova said she was released from the prison colony outside the Volga river city of Nizhny Novgorod and immediately went to meet a group of human rights activists.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 24, who was serving time in the eastern Siberian city Krasnoyarsk, was freed a few hours later. 

The pair along with fellow bandmate Yekaterina Samutsevich, 31, were jailed over the performance at Moscow's main cathedral in March 2012.

Ms Samutsevich was released several months later on a suspended sentence.

Yekaterina Samutsevich (L) was freed a few months into her sentence

The band insisted their protest was meant to raise their concern about increasingly close ties between the state and the church.

Russia's Supreme Court earlier this month ordered a review of the Pussy Riot case, saying a lower court did not fully prove their guilt and did not take their family circumstances into consideration when passing on the verdict.

The Russian parliament passed an amnesty bill last week, allowing the release of thousands of inmates.

Ms Alyokhina and Ms Tolokonnikova qualified for the amnesty because they have small children.

The amnesty has been largely viewed as the Kremlin's attempt to soothe criticism of Russia's human rights records ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.

Mr Putin also unexpectedly pardoned Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former oil tycoon who was widely seen by Kremlin critics and Western politicians as a political prisoner.

Mr Khodorkovsky was freed on Friday after more than a decade in jail and flown to Germany.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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