MOSCOW, August 23 (RAPSI) – Jailed Pussy Riot punk group members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina have filed a motion seeking the remaining part of their sentence to be mitigated, their lawyer Irina Khrunova told RAPSI Friday.

“It does not really matter whether the court appoints community work or any other punishment for Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina. What is most important here is for [the sentence] to be mitigated, and the law provides several options,” Khrunova said. She added that the Zubovo-Polyansky Court of the Republic of Mordovia might consider the matter in a month.

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 Alyokhina, Tolokonnikova and and another Pussy Riot member - Yekaterina Samutsevich - to two years in a prison settlement on charges of hooliganism.

In October 2012, the Moscow City Court suspended Samutsevich's 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 Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were upheld.

Alyokhina has been transferred earlier in August to serve her prison term to Nizhny Novgorod region while Tolokonnikova remains in Mordovia.