Maria Alyokhina, one of the jailed members of Pussy Riot, has had an appeal for release denied.
Alyokhina was seeking to postpone her jail sentence so she could care for her five year-old son, currently being looked after by her mother, stating in court: "I’m in a situation where I have to prove here that my son needs me, which is obvious."
Denying the appeal, the Berezniki City Court said that these circumstances had already been taken into account with the original sentencing.
Alyokhina, along with bandmates Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were last year sentenced to two years in jail for performing an anti-Putin "punk prayer" in Moscow’s Cathedral Of Christ The Saviour last March.
In October, Samutsevich was freed when a court suspended her sentence, while Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova will have to serve another year in prison colonies in the Ural mountains.
Speaking about Alyokhina’s appeal denial, David Diaz-Jogeix of Amnesty International said: "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.
"Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova should be released, immediately and unconditionally, while the suspended sentence of Yekaterina Samutsevich should be overturned."
Placing the case in a broader context, Diaz-Jogeix added: "Today’s verdict is in line with the suppressive policies of the Russian authorities, stifling dissent in any form. For one stunt, clearly within their right to freedom of expression, the three punk singers had to endure months of humiliation and hardship in detention – something that continues for Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova."
