Summary:
A Russian rock musician has been denied parole for performing a song critical of the country's president.

Full article:
(CNN) -- A Russian court denied parole for Maria Alyokhina, a jailed member of the Pussy Riot punk band, state news agency Itar-Tass said Thursday. Alyokhina and her defense team plan to appeal the Berezniki City Court's decision, the news outlet said. The rock musician was sentenced to two years in prison in August for performing a song critical of then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in an Orthodox cathedral last year. Report: Russia clamping down on free speech . Alyokhina had been barred from attending a parole hearing in person, and participated in a Wednesday court proceeding via teleconference from prison. She told a the court Wednesday she was on hunger strike because she was not allowed to appear in person. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, another band member, also received a two-year sentence in August for performing the song. Yekaterina Samutsevich, a third member of the band, was sentenced at the same time. But she was freed from prison last October.