Last Pussy Riot members freed from Russian jail

The two remaining jailed members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot have been released from prison but one says the amnesty bill that gave her freedom was a Kremlin public relations stunt.

Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were granted amnesty last week, which was 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.

The third, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was released on suspended sentence months after all three were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years for the performance at Moscow’s main cathedral in March 2012.

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

Ms Alekhina was released from the prison colony outside the Volga river city of Nizhny Novgorod . Ms Tolokonnikova, was freed from the Siberian prison where she was held.

The Russian parliament passed the amnesty bill last week, allowing the release of thousands of inmates. Ms Alekhina and Ms Tolokonnikova qualify for amnesty because they have small children.

Ms Alekhina’s release came after president Vladimir Putin pardoned Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oil tycoon and once Russia’s richest man, who spent a decade in prison after challenging Mr Putin’s power. Mr Khodorkovsky flew to Germany after release and said he will stay out of politics. He pledged, however, to fight for the release of political prisoners in Russia.

Mr Alekhina told Dozhd TV channel that she was “too shocked” when she was released from the prison colony to grasp what was going on.

She also said she would have stayed behind bars to serve her term, which was to end in March if she was free to turn it down.

“I had a chance to turn it down, I would have done it, no doubt about that,” she said. “This is not an amnesty. This is a hoax and a PR move.”

She said the amnesty bill covers less than 10% of the prison population and only a fraction of women with children behind bars. Women convicted of grave crimes, even if they have children, are not eligible.

She complained that prison officials did not give her a chance to say goodbye to cell mates, but put her in a car and drove her to the train station in downtown Nizhny Novgorod.

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