Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (Pussy Riot) denied early release

Pussy Riot member and anti-Putin activist Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has been denied early release from prison, The Guardian reports.

Explaining the court's position, Judge Lidiya Yakovleva maintained that Tolokonnikova had "not always followed the rules of behaviour" during her time in the IK-14 women's penal colony, where she has been imprisoned since being convicted on charges of 'hooliganism motivated by religious hatred' last year.

Three members of Pussy Riot were convicted in July of 2012, over a short protest performance in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral. They had been