Pussy Riot's Alyokhina wants to help human rights
- 10 years ago
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
STORY: Pussy Riot punk band member Maria Alyokhina walked free from jail on Monday, immediately dismissing the Kremlin's amnesty that granted her early release as a stunt that would not change her attitude to President Vladimir Putin.
Alyokhina, 25, one of two women serving two-year sentences for a profanity-laced protest against Putin in a Russian Orthodox church in 2012, was released under the amnesty the president has said would show the Russian state is humane.
They were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for their "punk prayer" criticising Putin's ties to the Church, and had been due for release in March.
Alyokhina smiled as she left detention in the company of her lawyer and told Reuters she was feeling well.
She said that had it have been possible for her to refuse the amnesty, she would done so out of solidarity for those still in jail and that she now planned to lobby for prisoners rights.
STORY: Pussy Riot punk band member Maria Alyokhina walked free from jail on Monday, immediately dismissing the Kremlin's amnesty that granted her early release as a stunt that would not change her attitude to President Vladimir Putin.
Alyokhina, 25, one of two women serving two-year sentences for a profanity-laced protest against Putin in a Russian Orthodox church in 2012, was released under the amnesty the president has said would show the Russian state is humane.
They were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for their "punk prayer" criticising Putin's ties to the Church, and had been due for release in March.
Alyokhina smiled as she left detention in the company of her lawyer and told Reuters she was feeling well.
She said that had it have been possible for her to refuse the amnesty, she would done so out of solidarity for those still in jail and that she now planned to lobby for prisoners rights.