PERM, February 26 - RAPSI. Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina will remain in solitary confinement for three more months for safety reasons, the Perm Regional Federal Penitentiary Service told RIA Novosti.
Apart from her safety concerns, Alyokhina does not want to share a cell with her fellow prisoners because she believes she was wrongly convicted, the service said.
She was placed in solitary confinement in November upon her own request after she complained that she had problems with her cellmates.
In mid-January, the Berezniki City Court rejected Alyokhina's plea to defer her sentence on the grounds that she has a small child.
The court said the circumstance was taken into account by the Khamovniki District Court in Moscow, which passed the verdict over three Pussy Riot members, adding that no new arguments had been given to justify her punishment's mitigation.
On March 4, the Perm Territorial Court will hear Alyokhina's appeal against the lower court's refusal to defer her sentence.
Alyokhina and her lawyers also appealed to the Berezniki court to invalidate the four penalties levied on her in prison, in particular for violating the prison routine.
The court invalidated two penalties - one for getting up late and the other for uncivil behavior toward a prison employee. The court upheld the other penalties - one for getting up late and the other for handing private correspondence to a lawyer.
In late February 2012, five young women wearing brightly colored balaclavas staged a "punk-style" prayer at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. An edited video of their performance was posted on the Internet and caused a public outcry.
Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich were arrested shortly thereafter. On August 17, 2012, the Khamovniki District Court sentenced them to two years in prison for hooliganism.
On October 10, 2012, the Moscow City Court changed Samutsevich's verdict to a suspended sentence and released her immediately based on her new attorneys' argument that she was seized by security guards prior to reaching the altar and thus did not actually take part in the punk prayer performance.
The court upheld Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova's sentence.
