(23 Dec 2013) Yekaterina Samutsevich, a member of feminist punk band Pussy Riot, said on Monday she feels relief that the two other group members have been released from prison.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina were released from prison on Monday - just three months before the end of their terms - under an amnesty initiated by President Vladimir Putin and approved by the Russian parliament last week.
The two, who were due for release in March, qualified for amnesty because they have small children.
Samutsevich said she was looking forward to seeing the other women once they return to Moscow and that all three wanted to continue their political activism.
Tolokonnikova, Alekhina and Samutsevich were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years in prison for an anti-Putin performance at Moscow's main cathedral in March 2012.
Samutsevich was released several months later on suspended sentence.
The band members said their protest was meant to raise concern about increasingly close ties between the state and the Church.
The amnesty that enabled the remaining two band members' release is seen as the Kremlin's attempt to soothe criticism of Russia's human rights record ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.
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.
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