A Russian appeals court has freed one of the members of the all-female punk band Pussy Riot, but has upheld a jail sentence for two others for an unsanctioned protest at a Moscow cathedral.

The judge at the Moscow city court issued a suspended sentence for Yekaterina Samutsevich, saying she was thrown out of the cathedral by guards before she could take part in the performance. But he upheld the two-year prison camp sentences of Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.

Amnesty International called the decision by the court “half-hearted,” saying any decision that shortens the wrongful detention of the three women is welcome but that justice was not done Wednesday. The rights group said the government has introduced numerous new restrictions to freedom of expression in recent months, and the women should not have been prosecuted in the first place.

All three were convicted in August of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. They argued in court on Wednesday that their impromptu performance was political in nature and not an attack on religion.

The trio was arrested on the altar of Russia's most prominent Orthodox cathedral in January, after they called on the Virgin Mary to deliver them from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said he thought the punishment was very strict. But President Putin recently said the court ruling was correct.