The sole member of anti-Kremlin punk group Pussy Riot freed on appeal has taken her case to the European Court of Human Rights, accusing Russia of violating her right to freedom of speech and illegally detaining her.
Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, was one of three band members sentenced to two years in jail in August for belting out a profanity-laced song condemning President Vladimir Putin in a cathedral, in a case that sparked an international outcry.
She was freed on appeal on October 10 after six months behind bars. Her lawyer, Irina Khrunova, successfully argued she had not actually taken part in the protest because she had been stopped and led away before it took place. Ms Khrunova said Ms Samutsevich had lodged a complaint with the Strasbourg court.
"Her rights were violated when she wasn't given food or [allowed to] sleep," said Ms Khrunova. "She was held in a small room without being fed for hours."
A defiant Ms Samutsevich said in a recent interview that Pussy Riot had "achieved more than our goal" by igniting a public debate about the close ties between the Russian state and the Orthodox Church, whose spiritual leader has likened Mr Putin's rule to "a miracle of God".
The two other band members, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, remain in jail after a Moscow court upheld their prison sentences, a ruling Mr Putin said they had deserved.
The trio was found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" after performing a song asking the Virgin Mary to "throw Putin out" on the altar of Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral in February.
The protest prompted accusations of blasphemy from the Orthodox Church, but sparked an outcry from Western governments and pop stars, including Madonna, who branded the sentences disproportionate.
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