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Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina freed

Society Materials 23 December 2013 10:29 (UTC +04:00)

Russian activist Maria Alyokhina was released from prison Monday under an amnesty, her lawyer was quoted as saying by a news report.

Alyokhina, 25, was serving a two-year sentence along with Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a fellow member of punk band Pussy Riot, for hooliganism after the group performed an anti-Putin song in 2012 in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

She was released as part of a wider amnesty passed last week, her lawyer Piotr Saikin was quoted as saying by state news agency Ria Novosti.

Tolokonnikova could also be released Monday, people close to her were quoted as saying.
Alyokhina was on a train to Moscow, her lawyer said. Her release had been anticipated since the amnesty bill was passed by parliament on Wednesday.

On Friday, President Vladimir Putin pardoned Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oil tycoon and critic of the Russian government imprisoned for more than 10 years, who left for Berlin.
The Pussy Riot members' prison sentence led to international protests against their sentence.

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