Russia frees one Pussy Riot member, keeps two in jail

A Russian appeals court Wednesday ordered the release of one member of punk band Pussy Riot after turning her two-year prison sentence into a suspended term but kept two others in jail with unchanged verdicts. The judge at the Moscow city court ordered the release of Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, after giving her a two-year suspended prison camp term for performing a protest stunt against President Vladimir Putin in Russia's main church. However the two-year prison camp sentences of Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, were upheld by the court. Judge Larisa Polyakova ruled "to leave Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova's sentences without changes" while bowing to the appeal filed on behalf of Samutsevich, who was judged not to have taken actual involvement in the "punk prayer" performance. The judge stressed that Samutsevich could be jailed again if she "violates several restrictions established by law or commits some other crime."