Two members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot were detained briefly Tuesday in central Sochi, after apparently being considered suspects in a theft at their hotel, and then released.
'A survey in connection with the theft at the Hotel Adler is completed, there is no claim against those questioned,' police said in a prepared statement.
Earlier in the day, band members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were meeting with journalists when police detained them, according to Tolokonnikova's husband, Petr Verzilov. Russian media corroborated the report.
'They were put to the floor and beaten and physical force was used to them when they refused to be questioned without the presence of their lawyer, who was on his way to the police department,' Verzilov told reporters.
'Unbelievable lawlessness, even we are amazed,' tweeted Tolokonnikova. 'Beat on the floor of the department, in the Olympic capital!'
Invoking the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin, she added, 'They dragged me on the floor in the hall of the department, hands tied behind back and thrown to the floor. Putin will teach you to love the motherland!'
She said they would file a complaint with the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.
The two women had been walking down a street accompanied by the journalists, three other members of Pussy Riot who use pseudonyms, and two local activists, when a gr.