More unwelcome news for supporters of jailed Pussy Rioter Nadezhda Tolokonnikova. Tolokonnikova’s husband claims to have received reliable information that his wife is bound for a distant prison colony in Siberia. Details and background below.
It’s not exactly difficult to get yourself in political hot water in Russia, although having the guts to take a shot at Putin by holding a protest in a Moscow cathedral does tend to accelerate the process. And that’s precisely what landed three members of feminist punk rock group Pussy Riot in prison back in 2012. While Yekaterina Samutsevich was eventually freed a couple of months after her arrest, Tolokonnikova and bandmate Mariya Alyokhina haven’t been so fortunate.
Even the clout of the global human-rights movement hasn’t sprung the two. On the other hand, they haven’t really let prison silence them. Both have recently made news after being hospitalized due to prolonged hunger strikes. One such action by Tolokonnikova may have prompted her most recent move, as her husband believes it was motivated by both the strikes and her open criticisms of the Russian prison system.