Pussy Riot appeal rejected

A Russian court has denied an appeal from imprisoned Pussy Riot member Maria Alekhina to defer her sentence.

Alekhina, along with her bandmate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, are currently serving two-year jail terms for their "punk prayer" in a Moscow church last year. A third member, Ekaterina Samutsevich, successfully had her appeal heard and her sentence suspended.

Alekhina was seeking a deferral on her sentence on the grounds that she has a young child to take care of - a factor the court, in throwing out the appeal, state was taken into consideration at the time of sentencing.

Condemning the court's decision, Amnesty International's David Diaz-Jogeix said: "[This] ruling is a further travesty of justice. The three Pussy Riot singers should not have been prosecuted in the first place. Today's decision has proven again that the Russian authorities are uncompromising in their suppression of freedom of expression."