Pussy Riot member Maria Alekhina denied appeal

Russian court refuses to defer her two-year prison sentence.

The 24-year-old was seeking a deferral so she could care for her five-year-old son; her mother is currently looking after the child. However, Berezniki City Court said her family situation had been taken into account when the sentence was first decided.

“Today’s court ruling is a further travesty of justice. The three Pussy Riot singers should not have been prosecuted in the first place. Today’s decision has proven again that the Russian authorities are uncompromising in their suppression of freedom of expression,” said Amnesty International’s David Diaz-Jogeix.

He continued: “Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova should be released, immediately and unconditionally, while the suspended sentence of Ekaterina Samutsevich should be overturned.” Samutsevich was freed on appeal last October.

A documentary about the protest collective’s on-going saga, Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer, will make its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival between January 17 to 27. [via NME]

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