MOSCOW, March 13 (RAPSI) - The qualifications commission of the Moscow Bar Association has rejected Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich's request to disbar her former attorneys Mark Feygin and Nikolai Polozov, Feygin announced through Twitter.
The disciplinary proceedings against Feygin and Polozov have been dropped.
According to Feygin, the decision will need to be affirmed by the Board of Association on March 31.
Samutsevich complained to the board, that the lawyers have provided sub-par service and violated client-attorney privilege.
According to Samutsevich's statement, Feygin and Polozov published her letters without permission, acted in a way other than for her benefit and made slanderous statements to the media.
The Pussy Riot member previously sought the disbarment of her former lawyer Violetta Volkova, but the board of the Bar Association refused. Samutsevich appealed the Association's ruling. The complaint will be considered by Moscow's Lefortovsky District Court on April 2.
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.
