One member of the imprisoned Russian feminist band Pussy Riot – punished with jail for speaking out against the government and its anti-LGBT policies – has been set free, while two others are still facing a two year sentence.

The defence lawyer for Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, argued that guards had promptly thrown her out of the anti-Vladimir Putin protest concert in one of Moscow’s busiest cathedrals before she could even perform – and amateur video footage of the event confirms this.

While an overwhelmed Samutsevich and her family speak of their relief, their thoughts and those of the band’s millions of supporters around the globe turn to the other two girls, who are now being sent to a prison camp to begin their two-year sentence.

Since the girls of Pussy Riot were jailed, prominent musicians and politicians alike from around the globe have lined up to urge President Putin to free them – including Madonna, Bjork and even our Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who says she wrote to Putin directly.