MOSCOW, January 31 (RAPSI, Saria Kiut) - The Gagarinsky District Court of Moscow on Friday rejected the defamation lawsuit filed by Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich against her former attorney Nikolai Polozov, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

Initially, Samutsevich demanded 1,5 million rubles ($42,559) in compensation for stories about Pussy Riot and unkind remarks about her on social networks. She also demanded refutation of the materials. Later, Samutsevich adjusted the claim to 3 million rubles ($85,119).

“Now the compensation will amount to 3 million rubles, as I discovered that the defamatory posts were published not only on his LiveJournal and social networking accounts, but the Echo of Moscow blog host as well,” Samutsevich told RAPSI last week.

Samutsevich also sought 1 million rubles ($28,373) from attorney Alisa Obraztsova.

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 Samutsevich and two other Pussy Riot members - Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova - 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. In November, Tolokonnikova was transferred to the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

On December 23, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were pardoned and released from prison pursuant to a broad amnesty spearheaded by Russian President Vladimir Putin and adopted by the State Duma.