Lawyers for the two jailed members of Pussy Riot, Russia's all-women dissident punk collective, are stepping down.
Lawyers Mark Feigin, Violetta Volkova, and Nikolai Polozov announced on November 19 they will no longer represent the two jailed women, citing pressure from prison authorities.
Feigin said the three lawyers were denied access to their client, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who is serving her sentence in a prison in the Russian republic of Mordovia.
Feigin said it would be in their clients' interest to change lawyers.
Tolokonnikova and two other Pussy Riot members, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich, were sentenced to two years in prison in August after performing an anti-Kremlin song in Moscow's largest Russian Orthodox cathedral.
Samutsevich was released on parole last month. Amnesty International considers Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina prisoners of conscience.
Lawyers Mark Feigin, Violetta Volkova, and Nikolai Polozov announced on November 19 they will no longer represent the two jailed women, citing pressure from prison authorities.
Feigin said the three lawyers were denied access to their client, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who is serving her sentence in a prison in the Russian republic of Mordovia.
Feigin said it would be in their clients' interest to change lawyers.
Tolokonnikova and two other Pussy Riot members, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich, were sentenced to two years in prison in August after performing an anti-Kremlin song in Moscow's largest Russian Orthodox cathedral.
Samutsevich was released on parole last month. Amnesty International considers Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina prisoners of conscience.
