DHAKA: Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has become the second member of Russian punk band Pussy Riot freed from prison under a new amnesty law.

Band member Maria Alyokhina was freed earlier on Monday in Nizhny Novgorod.

Alyokhina said the amnesty was a ‘PR stunt’ ahead of the Winter Olympics and she would rather have stayed in prison.

The women were jailed in August 2012 for ‘hooliganism motivated by religious hatred’ after performing a protest song in Moscow’s main cathedral.

The act was seen as blasphemous by many Russians, but their conviction was criticised by rights groups, anti-Putin activists and foreign governments.

Their sentences were due to end in March 2014, but they have known since last week that their release was imminent under a law signed by the Russian parliament which gave amnesty to some 20,000 prisoners, including mothers.

Both have young children, reports the BBC.

BDST: 1711 HRS, DEC 23, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor