Jailed Pussy Riot Member Seeks Parole

Maria Alyokhina, one of the jailed members of the punk group Pussy Riot, appealed for parole Wednesday after serving nearly a year in prison. Alyokhina, 25, spoke via video link from a jail in Perm, which is in the same region as the Berezniki penal colony, where she has been imprisoned since August 2012. Her previous attempt at parole in May was turned down after a prison official said she was unenthusiastic about chores and had not repented for her crime. Alyokhina, the mother of a young son, went on a hunger strike over prison authorities’ refusal to allow her to attend the last hearing in person. The second jailed Pussy Riot member, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, is expected to attend a parole hearing in Saransk on Friday.