Mrs. [Mary Braun], 65, and Mrs. [Tina Zmaeff], 61, both serving eight-year sentences, ended a 47-day hunger strike and were granted parole on Thursday. They left Matsqui prison yesterday afternoon by air ambulance, and a nursing supervisor at Castlegar and District Hospital said later that they were in satisfactory condition and receiving visitors.

2 Doukhobor fasters get parole

00:00 EST Saturday, March 29, 1986

Sons of Freedom arsonists Mary Braun and Tina Zmaeff were released from prison yesterday and flew home to Castlegar in the Kootenay region.

Mrs. Braun, 65, and Mrs. Zmaeff, 61, both serving eight-year sentences, ended a 47-day hunger strike and were granted parole on Thursday. They left Matsqui prison yesterday afternoon by air ambulance, and a nursing supervisor at Castlegar and District Hospital said later that they were in satisfactory condition and receiving visitors.

Regional parole authorities refused on Wednesday to release them, noting that they had continued to set fires in prison, but a successful appeal was made to parole officials in Ottawa. They were granted day parole, which means they will remain under federal supervision.

Both have long records inspired by their belief that God demands purification by fire. They and fellow Freedomite arsonist Mary Astaforoff, who died during a fast in November, were granted a federal pardon in 1983 but shortly afterward burned down a house.