Pitts: Understand free speech

Last week's "polar vortex" had much of the nation shivering, but only five U.S. cities hit temperatures lower than the day Nadezhda Toloknnikova walked out of a Siberian prison.

The 24-year-old woman smiled broadly for reporters and flashed the peace sign, as she came out into the -13 degree weather. She wore a thick down jacket but did not have a hat or scarf.

"How do you like our Siberian weather, here?" she quipped.

It wasn't just bravado.

The lady is tough. She is a married mother of a young daughter and is one of three members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot arrested for a concert it did in February 2012. In the concert, performed at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the band blasted the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting the election of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The women later filmed a music video of the experience, "Punk Prayer - Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!"

The three members were arrested and later convicted of hooliganism "motivated by religious hatred."

On Dec. 23, Toloknnikova was released hours after her band mate, Maria Alekhina, who had been in prison at a different location. The third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was released shortly after conviction on a suspended sentence.

Prison could not shut Toloknnikova up. She continued to criticize Putin and led her fellow female prisoners in a hunger strike. That's when the government transferred her to a Siberian prison colony.

The punk rockers were far from grateful for the amnesty. They called it a stunt to make Russia look good ahead of the Winter Olympics, which the country will host in February. Putin has let thousands of people out of prison, including political opponent and prominent businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who had served 10 years.

Alekhina said: "If I had a chance to turn it down, I would have done it, no doubt about that. This is not an amnesty. This is a hoax and a PR move."

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Pitts: Understand free speech