Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina was freed from Russian prison. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is still in jail, but expected to follow shortly.

According to her lawyer, Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina walked free out of a Russian prison after an amnesty that was granted by the Kremlin.

Alyokhina's lawyer Pyotr Zaikin told Russian press "Maria Alyokhina walked out to freedom. All of the documents had been completed and signed." Alyokhina is expected to meet other human rights activists in Moscow.

Pussy Riot's Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were serving a two-year sentence for hooliganism after they performed a political agitpop piece called "Punk Prayer" against President Vladimir Putin in a Russian Orthodox Christian cathedral.

The two Pussy Riot members were set to be released in March 2014. They were freed early as part of a general amnesty issued by the Russian parliament that will see at least 20,000 prisoners go free. The pardoned prisoners include minors, pregnant mothers and recently arrested Greenpeace activists.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova's husband Pyotr Verzilov said "At about 09:10 (local time) Maria left the penitentiary. With her lawyer Pyotr Zaikin she is now driving to the railway station from which she will travel to Moscow by train."

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the two jailed members of the punk band Pussy Riot, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 24, and Maria Alyokhina, 25, will be released from prison under an amnesty. The Russian Amnesty also promises to free 30 environmental activists who boarded an oil tanker to protest for the international group Greenpeace. Putin also promised to free oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The long-time Putin adversary has spent more than ten years in jail.

In a long interview over Russian media, Putin said "I feel sorry for Pussy Riot not for the fact that they were jailed, but for disgraceful behavior that has degraded the image of women."

Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhin are serving a two-year sentences for a performance art piece called "punk prayer" that protested  Putin and the Russian Orthodox church in Moscow's main cathedral. They were due for release in March.

Under the amnesty thirty people detained in a Greenpeace protest against Arctic drilling will avoid trial. The activists faced seven years in jail for staging a protest against Arctic oil drilling. 28 Greenpeace activists and two others are charged.

Pussy Riot were jailed for the performance "Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer." They were convicted on August 17, 2012 of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for a performance in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The called the performance "Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer."

Two members of Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in prison. Pussy Riot is recognized as a political prisoner by the Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners and Amnesty International.

Tolokonnikova went on hunger strike to protest prison conditions In September. She was hospitalized. In the middle of October, the prison service said that she would be moved. The Pussy Riot musician wanted to raise awareness of poor prison conditions and "slave-like" work requirements at central Russian labor colony FGU IK-14 in Mordovia. The Pussy Riot musician reported that she got death threats from the colony administrator Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Kupriyanov.

Putin hopes the move will alleviate some of the tension that Russia has been struggling with the West over as it gets set to host the Winter Olympics.  the U.S. delegation to an Olympics will not include a member of the first family, a vice president, or former president for the first time since 2000.

You can get the most recent information on Pussy Riot at https://freepussyriot.org/.