Pussy Riot member freed in Russia

Maria Alyokhina, a member of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, has been freed early from prison under an amnesty, BBC reported.She told a Russian TV channel the amnesty was a "PR stunt" and she would rather have remained in prison.The release of fellow band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is also expected later today.The pair were jailed in August 2012 for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" after performing a protest song in Moscow's main cathedral.The conviction of the women was criticised by rights groups, anti-Putin activists and foreign governments.Their sentences were due to end in March 2014, but they have known since last week that their release was imminent under an amnesty agreed by the Russian parliament.The amnesty covers at least 20,000 prisoners, including minors, invalids, veterans, pregnant women, and mothers.The move is being widely seen as attempt to avoid controversy overshadowing the Winter Olympics in February, due to be hosted in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.Shadow of OlympicsAlyokhina was released from the prison camp in Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow, early on Monday morning."Maria Alyokhina walked out to freedom," her lawyer, Pyotr Zaikin, told the Russia's RIA Novosti news agency. "All of the documents had been completed and signed."She was taken to Nizhny Novgorod station where she told Russia's Dozhd TV channel by telephone: "I don't think it's an amnesty, it's a profanation."She said it applied only to minority of convicts and she would have preferred to remain jailed."I don't think the amnesty is a humanitarian act, I think it's a PR stunt. If I had a choice to refuse I would," she added.Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were both convicted after performing an obscenity-laced song called Punk Prayer in Moscow's Christ the Saviour cathedral in February last year.The song was heavily critical of the Orthodox Church's support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling on the Virgin Mary to "throw Putin out".A third protester, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was given the same jail term but was released on appeal in October last year. Her sentence was suspended because she had not performed the protest song with the others.Ms Tolokonnikova's husband Pyotr Verzilov told the BBC that the release "was a bit of an image-lightening process for President Putin".Tolokonnikova's father Andrei told Reuters last week that timing of the women's release was "an absolutely cynical game of the central authorities".On Friday Russian former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky - once Russia's richest man - was also pardoned and freed after more than 10 years in prison for fraud and tax evasion.He has always insisted his conviction was politically motivated, because of his financial support for opposition parties. ANN.Az