Russian court nixes parole for Pussy Riot band member

Doug Stanglin | USATODAY

A Russian court denied parole on Friday to a member of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot who has already served almost half her sentence for staging an irreverent protest against Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral, RT reported.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, began serving her two-year sentence last summer on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for last year's demonstration.

Defense lawyers had urged the court to release Tolokonnikova so that she can take care of her 5-year-old daughter.

Dressed in a Soviet-style prison unform with white scarf, she addressed the court from behind bars in Zubova Polyana, 240 miles southeast of Moscow in the Russian republic of Mordovia.

She said the penal colony where she is serving time would not support her appeal because she "didn't repent." Repentance is not a requirement for parole in Russia.

In its deposition to the court, the penal colony complained that Tolokonnikova was "decisive, insensitive to ethics and conscience and thinking only about herself."

In addition, the penal colony noted that Tolokonnikova once failed to greet a prison official during a hospital stay, the Daily Mail reported. She was also once reprimanded for refusing to go out for a walk while she was held in a Moscow jail, according to the deposition.

Tolokonnikova and two other female members of the punk band were originally charged for the March 2012 stunt. One of the women, Yekaterina Samutsevich, had her sentence suspended on appeal. In January 2013, a court also denied a bid by Maria Alyokhina for a suspended sentence, RT reported.

The punk band had performed a provocative "punk prayer" criticizing then-Prime Minister Putin on the altar of Christ the Savior Cathedral in central Moscow, Russia's main Orthodox church. Putin is now president of Russia.

The case has drawn attention of international artists,like Madonna, who have protested the conviction. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has also expressed sympathy for Tolokonnikova, without calling for her release outright.

In April, Putin was asked about the government's attitude toward protests, including the Pussy Riot incident, The Moscow Times reported.

"Both the Pussy Riot girls and those lads who desecrate soldiers' graves should answer before the law," Putin replied. "We don't convict people for their political views but for breaking the law. The same is true of rallies, I think that people can and should organize them, but within the confines of the law."

Contributing: Associated Press