Talking About Human Rights and "Freedom of Speech"

Imprisoned Pussy Riot band members released

By Jethro Mullen, CNN

updated 5:40 AM EST, Mon December 23, 2013

This file photo shows Maria Alyokhina, one of the Pussy Riot members, sitting behind a glass wall in court in Moscow last year.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Maria Alyokhina, jailed for her part in a performance critical of Vladimir Putin, is released
• Another imprisoned band member, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, is also released
• Tolokonnikova's husband says they have only been spared a small part of their sentence
• Last week, Russian lawmakers backed a sweeping amnesty law

(CNN) -- Two members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, who were serving a two-year jail term for their part in a performance critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin, have been released from prison.

Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were released about two months before their prison sentences were due to end. The release was approved last week when Russian lawmakers backed a sweeping amnesty law announced by Putin.

"Two months out of the almost two years that the girls have served is not much," Tolokonnikova's husband, Pyotr Verzilov, told CNN. "So the effect of this amnesty for Maria and Nadezhda is not really felt."

The Russian government said the amnesty marked the anniversary of the adoption of Russia's post-Communist constitution in 1993.

However, some suggested the move was related to the country's upcoming Olympics. Verzilov said he thought it was simply an effort to burnish Putin's image.

Russia's record on human rights is in the spotlight as the country prepares to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.

Pussy Riot's 2012 performance of a "punk prayer" that criticized Putin, who was prime minister at the time, was held at a Russian Orthodox cathedral. The musicians were found guilty of hooliganism.

The jailed women have young children and therefore qualified for the amnesty, Russian media reported.

The new amnesty law is also expected to free some detained Greenpeace activists.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oil tycoon and Kremlin critic, was released from a lengthy period in prison last week after a pardon from Putin. Khodorkovsky had been in prison since 2003 and was convicted in 2005 of tax evasion and fraud. He was due for release in 2014.

CNN's Yousuf Basil contributed to this report.