“A court in north-eastern Russia has denied parole to one of the jailed members of the punk band, p*ssy Riot. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who is serving a two-year sentence, had been eligible for early release from a penal colony.

She and two other members of p*ssy Riot were convicted in August of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. They were arrested after performing an obscenity-laced “punk prayer” in protest against President Vladimir Putin at Moscow's main cathedral.

An appeals court suspended the sentence of one of the convicted women, Yekaterina Samutsevich, in October, but upheld the jail terms for Ms Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhin.

On Friday, Ms Tolokonnikova attended her parole hearing in the town of Zubova Polyana wearing a dark green prison uniform with a white scarf. “I have spent enough time in the prison camp. I've had enough of studying it. Six months is time enough”, she told the judge, according to the Rapsi legal news agency. Her lawyer also argued that Ms Tolokonnikova's five-year-old daughter, Gera, needed her mother, and presented an appeal for her release signed by several prominent human rights activists.

The penal colony opposed her request, saying she had failed to “repent” and had received reprimands for failing to greet a prison official while she was in hospital and refusing to go for a walk at a Moscow jail”. – BBC News

Despite her occasional levity, Tolokonnikova spent much of the hearing in a more serious mood, on April 26, 2013. (Photo by Mikhail Metzel/Associated Press)

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of the feminist punk band, p*ssy Riot, right, reads papers at a district court in Zubova Polyana 440 km southeast of Moscow in Russia's province of Mordovia, Friday, April 26, 2013. A Russian court is to consider whether one of the jailed p*ssy Riot members is eligible for early release. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, in custody since her arrest in March 2012, is serving a two-year sentence for the band's irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral. Tolokonnikova's lawyer Irina Khrunova is at right. (Photo by Mikhail Metzel/AP Photo)

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova in court in Zubova Polyana, Russia, on April 26, 2013. (Photo by Mikhail Metzel/AP Photo)

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of the feminist punk band, p*ssy Riot, waves to supporters at a district court in Zubova Polyana 440 km southeast of Moscow in Russia's province of Mordovia, Friday, April 26, 2013. A Russian court is to consider whether one of the jailed p*ssy Riot members is eligible for early release. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, in custody since her arrest in March 2012, is serving a two-year sentence for the band's irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral. (Photo by Mikhail Metzel/AP Photo)

p*ssy Riot band member Nadia Tolokonnikova looks out from a holding cell during a court hearing in the town of Zubova Polyana April 26, 2013. Tolokonnikova is appealing her conviction for hooliganism motivated by religious hate for which she is serving two years in a remote penal colony. (Photo by Mikhail Voskresensky/Reuters)

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of the feminist punk band p*ssy Riot, gestures from behind bars at a district court in Zubova Polyana, on April 26, 2013. Tolokonnikova, in custody since her arrest in March 2012, is serving a two-year sentence for the band's irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral. A Russian court is to consider whether she is eligible for early release. (Photo by Mikhail Metzel/Associated Press)