Pussy Riot, Greenpeace members to go free under amnesty bill

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Russian amnesty billRussian lawmakers Wednesday finished the final draft of an amnesty bill that would free the jailed members of Pussy Riot and Greenpeace, RIA Novosti reported.

The sweeping amnesty bill was initiated to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Russian constitution.

Under the bill, thousands of retirees, disabled people, women with children, pregnant women and victims of the Chernobyl disaster would be freed from prison, RIA Novosti reported.

That would clear the way for Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 24, and Maria Alyokhina, 25, to freed from jail because they are both mothers of young children, RIA Novosti reported.

Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova are serving two-year prison sentences for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for a performance by the punk rock collective against Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral in February 2012.

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