After being jailed and denied parole, Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova went on strike, and has since benn hospitalized.

Last year, members of Pussy Riot were sentenced to jail due to their “Punk Prayer,” a religious protest which saw them sentenced for “hooliganism driven by religious hatred.” Recently, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova went on strike after being denied parole and being appalled by the inhumane conditions. She says she will continue her strike until the prison changes the conditions. After 7 days on strike, she was hospitalized, which she and her husband consider a positive step. Tolokonnikova knows that “This is an extreme method, but I am convinced that it is my only way out of my current situation.”

Fellow Pussy Riot member, Maria Alyokhina, staged her own hunger strike after being denied parole, and was hospitalized 11 days into the strike for low blood pressure. She did, however, get a tour of the facility afterward to be shown that her demands were met. Yekaterina Samutsevich has been the only member so far to be released of the two year sentence.