Moscow appeals court frees one of the members of Pussy Riot
In a surprise move by a Moscow appeals court, one of the three members of the provocative Russian punk group Pussy Riot has been released from prison. Charges against Yekaterina Samutsevich have been dropped, since she was technically ejected from the cathedral where the group staged their "punk prayer" before she could take her guitar out of its case. Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova are still expected to serve out the two-year sentence the band members received in August for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred."