Putin: Pussy Riot deserved harsh jail term

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MOSCOW, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if members of the punk band Pussy Riot "had not broken the law, they would now be at home, doing the housework."

Speaking at a meeting with the Valdai Discussion Club Thursday, Putin dismissed any hope of mercy for incarcerated band members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, The Independent reported.

"Whether the sentence was too much or too little is not for me to judge," he said. "That is a matter for the court," Putin said. "If they had not broken the law, they would now be at home, doing the housework, or back at their jobs."

Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina, along with a third member of the band, Yekaterina Samutsevich, were sentenced to two years in prison for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred related to a performance at Moscow's main Orthodox cathedral. Samutsevich was released from prison after she appealed her case.