Pussy Riot members to work for prisoners' rights

MOSCOW, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The two members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot freed from prison in an amnesty this week said Friday they will be advocates for prisoners' rights.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina spent 22 months in prison after their conviction for hooliganism, stemming from an anti-Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral. Three members of the all-female band were arrested and convicted. One, Yekaterina Samutsevich, received a suspended sentence.

Speaking Friday in Moscow, Tolokonnikova, 24, and Alyokhina, 25, said although they continue to favor the ouster of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the dismantling of the current system of government, they intend to distance themselves from politics and concentrate on the rights of those in Russian prisons.

Their initiative will be called Zona Prava, an ambiguous phrase which could be translated as "Zone of Rights," the Russian news agency RIA Novosti said.

"We are truly not indifferent. We can't leave them (prisoners) without help," said Alyokhina.

Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were released in a general amnesty to honor the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution, an amnesty that included the release of former Russian oil baron Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Tolokonnikova said she hoped Khodorkovsky would join the prisoners' rights initiative, calling him a "very strong man."

She added she did not see their release as a sign of a "thaw" or "act of humanism" on the part of Putin, but rather a public relations move in preparation for Russia's hosting of the 2014 Winter Olympics.