Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, the jailed Pussy Riot members who were arrested in August 2012 for hooliganism, could be released as early as Thursday, four months earlier than their original sentence indicated. This is due to an amnesty marking the 20th anniversary of Russia's post-Soviet Constitution. The Russian parliament passed the amnesty on Wednesday.
This comes after a formal ruling by the Russian Supreme Court last week that found the 2-year sentences to be illegal in the case of these women. Factors like the lack of previous criminal convictions and that they were mothers to young children were not taken into account at the original sentencing.
President Vladimir Putin announced the amnesty, though some may believe is in an attempt to soften the criticism for human rights issues in Russia before the Olympics next year.
As The Hollywood Reporter stated: "In a gesture to mark the two decades since Russia adopted a new constitution in 1993, Putin announced a bill offering amnesties for people convicted of non-violent crimes.Russian lawmakers on Wednesday voted unanimously, 446-0, in favor of the amnesty. The bill can go into effect as early as Thursday."
THR also wrote "The Pussy Riot pair should be freed Thursday, prison officials in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, where Tolokinnokiva is being held, and Nizhny Novgorod, where Alykhina is incarcerated, said today. Tolokinnokova's husband, Pyotr Verzilov, said on Twitter that the women had been promised freedom 'right away and without bureaucratic delay, probably tomorrow.
After the intense turmoil and protests to free the women by public figures like Paul McCartney and Madonna, it looks as though this might finally be coming to a close. Greenpeace's 'Arctic 30' activists who were arrested for piracy in the Barents Sea in September while protesting against Arctic gas exploration will also go free based on the bill.
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