Jailed Pussy Riot members to be released

December 19, 2013 12:08

Punk band members are to be freed from Russian prison after amnesty deal is agreed

Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina will be freed from prison in Russia within days, it has been reported.

The feminist punk collective's members were given two-year sentences in August 2012 after their now infamous "punk prayer" protest at Moscow's Cathedral Of Christ The Savior. They were taken to a prison camp in Berniki in the remote Ural Mountains.

The Guardian reports that Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina are being set free as part of an amnesty approved by Russia's parliament yesterday (December 18) to mark the 20th anniversary of Russia's post-Soviet constitution. It's believed that the amnesty has been announced in an effort to improve Russia's image ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics, which begin in Sochi in January.

The amnesty will lead to the freeing of 500,000 prisoners, including the 'Arctic 30' Greenpeace protesters who were arrested earlier this year when some of the activists tried to scale Russia's first offshore oil platform.

"It's a very narrow amnesty. I'm very glad it applies to my clients," said Pussy Riot's lawyer Irina Khrunova to Reuters.

Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were both due to be released in June, having served some of their sentence prior to their trial. Speaking to The Guardian, Petya Verzilov, Tolokonnikova's husband says: "They are slightly sceptical of course. When you're living in these conditions it's hard to think about the Duma passing some bill, and it seems like it could never happen, so it's a big surprise for them that it does actually seem to be happening."

Earlier this year Alyokhina went on hunger strike to protest prison conditions, demanding officials got rid of the locks on the doors of workshops. She spoke to NME from prison in June, revealing that she didn't expect to be released before 2014.

The amnesty which should see Tolokonnikova and Alyokina's release is backed by Russia's president, Vladimir Putin. It mainly concerns first-time offenders, minors and women with small children with some activist complaining the group of people freed is not large enough.

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Vladimir Putin says Pussy Riot engaged in activities 'humiliating for women'

December 20, 2013 8:55

The two jailed activists will be released from prison 'within days'

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he believes that the members of Pussy Riot engaged in activities "humiliating for women".

Speaking yesterday (December 19) at a press conference, Putin explained that he felt "pity" for the jailed Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina as they "started to engage in activities which are humiliating for women", reports The Telegraph.

He continued: "It's just a PR campaign but they crossed a line... The court decided to punish them, not for that, but for other actions." Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina will reportedly be freed from prison in Russia within days as part of an amnesty approved by Russia's parliament to mark the 20th anniversary of Russia's post-Soviet constitution. The amnesty will lead to the freeing of 500,000 prisoners, including the 'Arctic 30' Greenpeace protesters who were arrested earlier this year when some of the activists tried to scale Russia's first offshore oil platform.

Speaking about the amnesty yesterday, Putin added: "The amnesty has nothing to do with Greenpeace or this band... We need to humanise, to make our criminal code more humane to mark the 20 year anniversary of the constitution."

The feminist punk collective's members were given two-year sentences in August 2012 after their now infamous "punk prayer" protest at Moscow's Cathedral Of Christ The Savior. They were taken to a prison camp in Berniki in the remote Ural Mountains.

Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were both due to be released in 2014, having served some of their sentence prior to their trial. Earlier this year Alyokhina went on hunger strike to protest prison conditions, demanding officials got rid of the locks on the doors of workshops. She spoke to NME from prison, revealing that she didn't expect to be released before 2014.

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Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova reportedly 'missing'

November 1, 2013 20:12

Her family haven't known of the jailed activist's whereabouts for 10 days

Jailed Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has reportedly gone missing.

Tolokonnikova's family have said that she has disappeared following her move to another jail 10 days ago. Buzzfeed reports that her father and husband last knew of her location on October 21. Andrei Tolokonnikov, her father, commented: "No one knows anything. There's no proof she's alive, we don't know the state of her health. Is she sick? Has she been beaten?"

Her husband Petya Verzilov added: "We think they moved her to a big city to hide her. It seems they got sick of these protests… This is basically the only way they have to punish Nadya — 'let's cut her off from the outside world'." Tolokonnikova has apparently been moved to a prison in Alatyr in the Volga region of Chuvashiya "for her personal safety."

Tolokonnikova recently had to suspend her nine-day hunger strike, which she began to campaign against the alleged inhumane working conditions she says she had been forced to endure at Russia's Penal Colony No 14. In a statement released to NME, she said: "I am not calling off my hunger strike, I am temporarily suspending it because of my physical condition is now very bad and there are the beginnings of health complications."

Russian authorities then refused to investigate the alleged threat made against jailed Pussy Riot member Tolokonnikova by the deputy head of the prison she was incarcerated in until recently. The local Mordovia division of country's Investigative Committee said they had discovered no evidence of any wrong-doing.

In an open letter, Tolokonnikova wrote that she asked Lieutenant Colonel Kupriyanov to let her and her fellow prisoners have eight hours of sleep. She said he then threatened her after making the request. She commented: "We were discussing decreasing the workday from 16 to 12 hours. "Fine, starting Monday, the brigade will only work for eight hours at a time," he replied. I knew this was another trap because it is physically impossible to fulfill the increased quota in 8 hours. Thus, the brigade will not have time and subsequently face punishment. "If anyone finds out that you're the one behind this, you'll never complain again," the Lieutenant Colonel continued. "After all, there's nothing to complain about in the afterlife."

Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina are both serving two-year sentences for breach of public order motivated by religious hatred. The sentences were handed to them in August 2012 after the band performed their now infamous 'punk prayer' protest against President Vladimir Putin at the Cathedral of Christ The Savior in Moscow in February 2012.

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Pussy Riot protester alone in cell after inmate tension

Members of the female punk band ''Pussy Riot'' (L-R) Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in a glass-walled cage before a court hearing in Moscow October 10, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Maxim Shemetov

By Nastassia Astrasheuskaya

MOSCOW | Fri Nov 23, 2012 12:02pm EST

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Jailed Pussy Riot punk protester Maria Alyokhina has been moved to a single-person cell for her own protection because of tension with other prisoners, her lawyer and Russia's federal penitentiary service said on Friday.

Alyokhina, 24, is serving a two-year sentence for a raucous protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main Russian Orthodox cathedral. Activists said her trial, and that of two band mates, was part of a crackdown on dissent.

"There was a conflict" between Alyokhina and other inmates and "she was transferred to a individual cell," her lawyer Irina Khrunova said by telephone. She said it was not yet clear what caused the conflict.

Prison authorities said Alyokhina was moved at her own request.

"Some tensions arose in relationships and, apparently to prevent this situation from escalating, she decided to submit a request to the prison leadership and they moved her to a one-person cell," a federal prison service spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman dismissed Russian media reports Alyokhina argued with inmates over religion at the Ural Mountains prison about 1,150 km (715 miles) northeast of Moscow. Pussy Riot's protest offended many members of Russia's Orthodox Church.

The spokeswoman also said she had no information regarding a report on the tabloid-style Life News website that Alyokhina had received violent threats from cell mates.

Alyokhina's main meal is taken to her cell and she is accompanied by a guard when she leaves it, the spokeswoman said.

Alyokhina and two band mates were convicted in August of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for their "punk prayer", which the dominant Russian Orthodox Church has cast as part of a concerted attack on the church and the faithful.

The women said the protest, in which they burst into Christ the Saviour Cathedral and called on the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin, was not motivated by hatred and was meant to mock the church leadership's support for the longtime leader.

Putin, a former KGB officer who has cultivated close ties with the church over 13 years in power, has rejected criticism from the United States and European leaders who called the two-year sentences disproportionate.

Alyokhina, who has a young son, argued with the judge and cross-examined witnesses during her trial.

Her band mate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, is serving her sentence in a different prison. Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, was freed last month when a court suspended her sentence on appeal.

(Additional reporting by Ludmila Danilova and Steve Gutterman; Writing by Nastassia Astrasheuskaya; editing by Jason Webb)

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