Despite letters from singers Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel and Patti Smith, a Russian court denied parole on Thursday to Pussy Riot band members Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova serving a two-year sentence, the Associated Press reported.
A court in Perm province accepted a claim by prosecutors that Alekhina systematically disobeyed prison authorities and failed to repent for a crime, Russia media reported.
The Russian band members Alekhina, Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevic received worldwide notoriety in 2012 when a Moscow court jailed them for two years for conducting a punk protest in the main cathedral in Moscow. Samtusevic was released on appeal, and the sentence she currently serves is classified as "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred," the court deemed.
Alekhina's lawyer said she will appeal Thursday's ruling.
Mccartney sent two letters to a court in Mordovia last month, asking the court judge to grant parole to Alekhina and Tolokonnikova. The singer wrote that he was making the request "in the spirit of friendship for my many Russian acquaintances who, like me, believe in treating people -all people,with compassion and kindness," he wrote.
Support letters written by Gabriel and Smith were also copied by Alekhina's lawyers, as part of her appeal.
Alekhina went on a hunger strike on Wednesday, and was barred from the hearing. The court is across the street from the prison colony where she is serving her two-year sentence.
