Moscow court considers whether to free Pussy Riot protesters A Moscow court is considering an an appeal by three members of the Pussy Riot punk group against their prison sentence. Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich were jailed for two years in 2012 after being convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, for staging a "punk prayer" in Moscow's cathedral. The women could be eligible for release under an amnesty proposed by President Putin this month. The amnesty for prisoners convicted of hooliganism would mark the anniversary of the adoption of Russia's post-Communist constitution in 1993.