(SOUNDBITE) (English) SINGER MADONNA SAYING:
"It is my privilege and my honor, ladies and gentlemen, to introduce Masha and Nadia from Pussy Riot."
Freed members of the Russian punk rock group Pussy Riot were guests of honour at an Amnesty International benefit concert in Brooklyn Wednesday (February 5) to raise awareness for human rights.
(SOUNDBITE) (Russian) NADEZHDA TOLOKONNIKOVA OF PUSSY RIOT SAYING:
"We will not forgive and will not forget what the regime is doing to our fellow citizens, so we demand a Russia that is free; a Russia without Putin!"
In 2012, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina were convicted of hooliganism after storming Moscow's biggest cathedral to perform a song criticising Russian President Vladimir Putin.
They were jailed for nearly two years before being released in December.
Now the pair are traveling the world to draw attention to the condition of Russian prisons.
While in the U.S. the women will meet w
