One of the two jailed members of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot was denied early release by a Russian court today, meaning she will continue to serve out her two-year sentence for her participation in her band's "punk prayer" protest against President Vladimir Putin.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who along with Pussy Riot members Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich was convicted of "hooliganism" charges back in August, has been in custody since March 2012. Her plea for early release was permitted by Russian law since she has now served half of her two-year sentence. She told the court in Zubova Polyana today that the prison camp where she is serving her sentence – a place the group has characterized on Twitter as the "harshest camps of all the possible choices" – did not support her request for release because she "didn't repent," according to the Associated Press.

Repenting isn't necessary for early release, but in a deposition the prison claimed Tolokonnikova was "insensitive to ethics." In rejecting the plea for early release, Judge Lidiya Yakovleva said that Tolokonnikova had ‘‘not always followed the rules of behavior." According to the prison colony's deposition, these infractions included not saying hello to a prison official while she was hospitalized earlier this year, and refusing to take a walk.

Pussy Riot has gotten worldwide attention from human rights advocates in the last year after a video of their "punk prayer" against Putin in a Moscow church in February 2012 went viral online. As the trial of Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich reached a climax last summer, many female artists including Yoko Ono, electro artist Peaches, original riot grrrl Kathleen Hanna and even Madonna rallied behind the group. Pussy Riot's trial also garnered massive support online where the #FreePussyRiot outcry raged on for days during their August trial. A documentary about the punk feminist group's trial premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

Samutsevich was released on appeal in October while her fellow Pussy Riot members remained jailed.