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 Alyokhina, 25, one of two women serving two-year sentences for a
profanity-laced protest against Putin in a Russian Orthodox church
in 2012, was released under the amnesty the president has said would
show the Russian state is humane.
They were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for
their "punk prayer" criticizing Putin's ties to the Church, and had
been due for release in March.
Alyokhina echoed critics who said the amnesty proposed by Putin was
far too narrow and appeared aimed at deflecting criticism over human
rights before Russia hosts the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in
February.
"I do not think it is a humanitarian act, I think it is a PR stunt,"
she said by telephone in comments to the Russian Internet and TV
channel Dozhd. "My attitude to the president has not changed."
In addition to the amnesty, Putin unexpectedly pardoned Mikhail
Khodorkovsky, the Russian former oil tycoon who is widely seen by
Kremlin critics and Western politicians as a political prisoner.
Khodorkovsky, who was freed after more than a decade in jail and
flown to Germany, said Putin is seeking to improve Russia's image
while also showing that he is confident in his grip on power after
weathering large opposition protests and winning a third term last
year.
Putin wants to send "a signal to society and the world that he feels
secure and is not afraid", Khodorkovsky said in an interview with
the Russian magazine the New Times.
Lawyers say the amnesty will also enable 30 people arrested in
Russia after a Greenpeace protest against Arctic oil drilling to
avoid trial on hooliganism charges, removing another irritant in
ties with the West.
Putin said the amnesty was not drafted with the Greenpeace activists
or Pussy Riot in mind. Looking confident and relaxed during an
annual news conference last week, he described Pussy Riot's protest
as disgraceful, saying it "went beyond all boundaries".
Human rights activists have said the amnesty is far too limited,
estimating will free fewer than 1,500 convicts, a small fraction of
the nearly 700,000 Russians behind bars.
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"I'M NOT AFRAID"
Alyokhina, bundled in a thick green prison jacket and with her long
curly hair loose, smiled as she left detention in the company of her
lawyer and told Reuters she was feeling well.
She said that had it have been possible for her to refuse the
amnesty, she would done so out of solidarity for those still in jail
and that she now planned to lobby for prisoners rights.
"I was keen to reject this amnesty, but the prison had received an
order that is why I was brought here," she told Reuters.
"I would like now to deal with the issue of prison, I would like to
engage in human rights ... I'm not afraid of anything anymore — believe me."
Pyotr Verzilov, the husband of fellow band member Nadezhda
Tolokonnikova, 24, who is also due to be freed under the amnesty,
which covered inmates convicted of hooliganism and mothers of young
children, was awaiting her release outside a jail in the Siberian
city of Krasnoyarsk.
A third band member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was released last year
when a judge suspended her sentence on appeal.
Tolokonnikova's father Andrei told Reuters last week he sees his
daughter's planned release not an act of mercy but "an absolutely
cynical game" of public relations ahead of the Olympics.
(Additional reporting and writing Alissa de Carbonnel;
editing by
Alison Williams)
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