![[File photo] Maria Alyokhina (left) and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in court in Moscow on October 10, 2012.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/130823135542-pussy-riot-alyokhina-and-tolokonnikova.jpg?q=x_0,y_126,h_1505,w_2677,c_crop/h_833,w_1480)
Story highlights
State media: Lawyers for two members of Pussy Riot ask for them to do community service
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina sentenced in August 2012 to 2 years in prison
Convicted of hooliganism for performing song critical Vladimir Putin in cathedral
Both have had requests for bail denied in recent months, state media report
Lawyers for two jailed members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot have asked for the women to be allowed to do community service instead of serving the remainder of their prison sentence, state media said Friday.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina were sentenced to two years in prison for hooliganism after a trial in August 2012.
The community service could include working for a charity or the media, official news agency Itar-Tass cited attorney Irina Khrunova as saying.
The two women, who have been in prison since March 2012, are due for release in March, state-run RIA Novosti news agency said.
Both have had requests for bail denied in recent months, the news agency said.
The two women were tried last year along with a third member of the band for performing a song critical of then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in an Orthodox cathedral.
Video footage of their “punk prayer” was posted online.
Yekaterina Samutsevich, the third member of the band, was sentenced at the same time as the others but was freed from prison in October after her defense presented new evidence.
READ: Russian court imprisons Pussy Riot band members on hooliganism charges
