Jailed Pussy Riot members hire freed band mate’s lawyer
20 Nov 2012 5:59 AM IST
The two jailed members of Pussy Riot punk band have fired their legal team and hired the lawyer who helped free their band mate, the husband of one of the women said.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich were in August sentenced to two years in prison after they staged a balaclava-clad performance inside Moscow's main cathedral mocking President Vladimir Putin.
In October, an appeals court ordered the release of Samutsevich, but upheld the two-year prison camp sentences of Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova. ‘Now the interests of Nadya and Masha will be defended by Irina Khrunova,’ said Tolokonnikova's husband Pyotr Verzilov. The three original Pussy Riot lawyers, Mark Feigin, Nikolai Polozov and Violetta Volkova, are all known for defending leading opposition activists and helped put the case in the spotlight with constant Twitter posts and television appearances.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich were in August sentenced to two years in prison after they staged a balaclava-clad performance inside Moscow's main cathedral mocking President Vladimir Putin.
In October, an appeals court ordered the release of Samutsevich, but upheld the two-year prison camp sentences of Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova. ‘Now the interests of Nadya and Masha will be defended by Irina Khrunova,’ said Tolokonnikova's husband Pyotr Verzilov. The three original Pussy Riot lawyers, Mark Feigin, Nikolai Polozov and Violetta Volkova, are all known for defending leading opposition activists and helped put the case in the spotlight with constant Twitter posts and television appearances.
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