Former Pussy Riot members briefly held in Sochi, Russia

Two former members of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot, detained Tuesday by law enforcement authorities in Sochi, Russia, the site of the Winter Olympics, have been released, according to a statement from one member's husband made on Twitter.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova said via Twitter that she and Maria Alekhina were stopped and accused of a crime. She said a third member of the loosely organized group, opposed to what they say is repression of civil dissent under Putin, also was detained. 

The women, who were members of the punk rock band until a split was announced earlier this month, had been held Tuesday at a police station in Adler, a suburb of Sochi that is home to the Olympic Park. The police department said the women were questioned in connection with a complaint from a hotel over theft, NBC News reported. No charges were filed.

"At the time of our detention, we weren't engaged in any protests, we were walking around Sochi. WE WERE WALKING," Tolokonnikova said on Twitter.

Tolokonnikova said authorities used "force" during the detention near the ferry terminal area where booths celebrating the Olympics have been set up. The area is about 20 miles north of the seaside Olympic venues. Tolokonnikova also said the pair had been detained for about 10 hours on Sunday.

Russia has put severe limitations on protests in Sochi during the Olympics, ordering that any demonstration must get advance approval and be held only in the neighborhood of Khosta, an area between Adler and downtown Sochi that is unlikely to be visited by outsiders.

"In Putin's Russia, the authorities have turned the Olympic rings – a worldwide symbol of hope and striving for the best of the human spirit – into handcuffs to shackle freedom of expression," said John Dalhuisen, of Amnesty International.

Russia had been criticized by the international community ahead of the Sochi Games for cracking down on environmental activists and journalists.

Tolokonnikova's husband, Pyotr Verzilov, said on Twitter that the two women were in Sochi with members of Pussy Riot to record a musical film called "Putin will teach you to love the motherland."

Local activist Seymon Simonov, who himself was arrested by authorities on Feb. 16, according to Amnesty International, said Tolokonnikova and Alekhina were accused of theft. Nine people were detained in all, he said.

Tolokonnikova, 24, and Alyokhina, 25, recently returned to Russia after a tour through Europe and the United States following their release from prison in December. Their release, said Tolokonnikova, was a stunt by Putin to improve Russia's image, which has been marred by a law banning gay "propaganda" from reaching minors at the Olympics.

They had been serving two-year jail terms for hooliganism after performing a profanity-laced protest song against Putin in Moscow's main cathedral in February 2012.

The stunt came just ahead of Putin's re-election to the Kremlin in March 2012 and was aimed at denouncing the Orthodox Church's support of the Russian strongman during the campaign.

The jailing of Pussy Riot became an international flashpoint for those who contend the Putin government has exceeded its authority in dealing with an array of issues, notably human and gay rights.

"People are being targeted merely for peacefully speaking their minds. The Russian authorities must end this downward spiral of human rights violations around the Olympic Village," Dalhuisen said. 

Al Jazeera and wire services