Maria Alyokhina, jailed member of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, looks out from a defendants' box as she attends a court hearing in Nizhny Novgorod, on September 26. Alyokhina, convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for protesting in a Moscow cathedral, appeared in court on Thursday to appeal for the commutation of her sentence, according to local media. Reuters/Roman Yarovitsyn