Pussy Riot member denied early release by court

A Russian court on Wednesday turned down a request by a jailed member of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot to defer serving her jail sentence until her five-year-old son is older. "The court has ruled not to satisfy the petition," the judge said at Berezniki city court in the Perm region of the Urals, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. Maria Alyokhina, 24, had asked the court to allow her to serve the remainder of her two-year prison term after her son turns 14. Under Russian law, a court can allow a woman convicted of a minor crime not to serve the sentence until her child turns 14.