Moscow Court Replaces Pussy Riot Member's Parole-Like Sentence With Prison Term

By RFE/RL's Russian Service

MOSCOW -- A court in Moscow has changed the remainder of a one-year parole-like sentence handed to a leading member of Pussy Riot protest group, Maria Alyokhina, to actual prison time saying she violated the terms of her punishment.

The human rights group Apology of Protest said on April 21 that the Presnya district court approved the request, made by the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), to change the sentence handed to Alyokhina last September for violating coronavirus safety precautions by calling on people to protest against the detention of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.

According to the court decision, Alyokhina must serve the remaining 21 days of her sentence in a penal colony.

The FSIN said it made the request because Alyokhina violated electronic bracelet requirements and once came home in January after a curfew time.

Alyokhina has said she removed the electronic bracelet from her leg on March 30 to protest Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.