Pussy Riot members freed over World Cup protest

AFP, Moscow :
Russian police unexpectedly released Pussy Riot punk group members early Wednesday while they still face charges for invading the pitch at the World Cup football final in Moscow last month, the activists said.
Four members of the group had spent a night in police custody and a day awaiting a court hearing in Moscow only for a judge to refuse to hear the case over technicalities.
Police then took them back to a station and released them shortly after midnight, one of the members, Pyotr Verzilov, wrote on Twitter.
Pussy Riot activists have faced a bewildering array of legal actions after they briefly invaded the pitch during the World Cup final on July 15 in Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium dressed as police, in what they later called a political protest.
Verzilov, Veronika Nikulshina, Olga Kuracheva and Olga Pakhtusova have already served a 15-day sentence for breaking the rules for spectators at a sporting event.