KRASNOYARSK, November 18 (RAPSI) - The Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Krasnoyarsk will begin in January the hearing of a request filed by convicted Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova to replace a remaining part of her sentence with a lighter punishment, lawyer Dmitry Dinze told RIA Novosti on Monday.
Initially, the request has been filed to the Zubovo-Polyansky District Court in Mordovia. On November 14, the court ruled to forward the motion to the Krasnoyarsk Territory where Tolokonnikova has been transferred.
The lawyer believes that the Krasnoyarsk court will receive the documents only in a month. "At best, the court will begin the consideration of the suit in January", he said.
"We asked to replace imprisonment with correctional labor or fine," Dinze added.
In February 2012, five young women wearing brightly colored balaclavas staged a punk rock prayer in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. An edited video of their performance was posted on the Internet and caused a public outcry.
In August 2012, the Khamovnichesky District Court in Moscow sentenced Tolokonnikova and two other Pussy Riot members - Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich - to two years in a prison settlement for hooliganism.
In October 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 had been seized by security guards prior to reaching the altar.
The sentences of Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were upheld. Alyokhina was transferred last August to serve her prison term to Nizhny Novgorod region. Tolokonnikova remained in Mordovia.
On September 23, Tolokonnikova declared a hunger strike and requested the initiation of a criminal case against the deputy warden, who she alleged threatened her with murder. On October 1, Tolokonnikova called off the strike. She reportedly gave up her nine-day-long fast because of unspecified health problems.
Investigators have dismissed her request to initiate a case against the deputy warden of her Mordovian colony. On October 18, she declared another hunger strike, and after a few days the Federal Service for Execution of Punishment said that Pussy Riot member will be moved to another prison. In November, Tolokonnikova was transferred to the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
