Pussy Riot Member Maria Alekhina’s Appeal: Russian Court Refuses to Suspend Prison Term, Sundance Film Festival To Premiere Their Documentary

Maria Alekhina, member of the all-girls Russian punk rock band, Pussy Riot's appeal to suspend her jail term has been refused by the Russian court.

The 24-year-old Alekhina, was convicted for two years in prison along with two other members of the band in 2012 for "hooliganism" after they staged an anti-Vladimir Putin protest by performing a "punk prayer" in a Moscow Cathedral.

Alekhina pleaded with the Berezniki City Court to suspend her sentence on account of her 5-year-old son, who is in his formative years and requires a mother to look after him. She asked the court to permit her to serve the two-year sentence after her son turns 14. But the judge Galina Yefremova rejected her appeal and told her that the court had already taken that into consideration when she was sentenced, TIME reported.

"Today's court ruling is a further travesty of justice. The three Pussy Riot singers should not have been prosecuted in the first place. Today's decision has proven again that the Russian authorities are uncompromising in their suppression of freedom of expression," said David Diaz-Jogeix, Deputy Director, Amnesty International Europe and Central Asia, NME reported.

"Today's verdict is in line with the suppressive policies of the Russian authorities, stifling dissent in any form. For one stunt, clearly within their right to freedom of expression, the three punk singers had to endure months of humiliation and hardship in detention - something that continues for Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova," he added.

Alekhina has refused to plead guilty for her peaceful protest against the Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was then the Russian Prime Minister.

The other member of the band, Ekaterina Samutsevich was granted a suspended sentencing after she appealed claiming she was not a part of the protest after the guards threw her out.

Meanwhile, a documentary on the Pussy Riot band that is directed by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin will be premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January.