MOSCOW, May 19 (RAPSI) – The Board of the Moscow Bar Association has upheld Monday the decision of its qualifications commission to reject Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich's request to disbar her former attorneys Mark Feygin and Nikolai Polozov, Feygin announced on Twitter.

Samutsevich complained that the lawyers violated attorney-client privilege and didn’t adhere to professional ethics. According to Samutsevich, the lawyers published her letters without permission, acted in a way other than for her benefit and provided false information to mass media.

The Pussy Riot member had filed a claim against her former lawyer Violetta Volkova as well. The disciplinary proceedings against her were dropped in October 2013. Samutsevich wanted the claim to be revived and turned to a Moscow court which rejected the claim. 

Samutsevich was among the five young women who staged a punk rock prayer in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral in February 2012. 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.

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.