Pussy Riot: Jailed Russian Punk Band Activist Nadezhda Tolokonnikova Moves To Different Prison (Video)

Russian authorities said that they decided to move jailed punk rock activist Nadezhda Tolokonnikova to a different prison, hours after her husband told CNN she resumed her hunger strike protesting "slave labor" conditions, Reuters reported.

Tolokonnikova had been serving her sentence at Penal Colony No. 14, which is a prison camp based south of Moscow in Mordovia.

Her bandmate Maria Alyokhina also dropped a plea for her early release in support for Tolokonnikova. "I have no moral right to take part in this court hearing at a time when my friend and fellow convict Nadezhda Tolokonnikova does not have such an opportunity," Alyokhina said. 

Both women are serving two year sentences for their obscenity-laced performance against President Vladimir Putin at a Russian-Orthodox cathedral in February, 2012. They were charged with "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred."

Yeketerina Samutsevich, the third member of the band, had her sentence suspended, Reuters reported 

Tolokonnikova was taken to a hospital in September following her nine day hunger strike, protesting the facility's paltry conditions. The punk rock activist said she feared for her life and inmates were forced to work up to 17 hours a day.

Tolokonnikova alleged that she also received a death threat from a senior prison official at the facility, Reuters reported.

The transfer is seen as "a great victory," her husband Pyotr Verzilov said by telephone to Reuters.

Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova, who are both mothers to young children, are due to be released in March.

Pussy Riot's case had been adopted by human rights groups, like Amnesty International, which viewed them as women of conscience. They have also garnered support by a bevy of musicians, including Madonna, Sting, Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono. 

Putin, however, argued that the band had "undermined the moral foundations" of the nation and "got what they asked for," he said.

Tags

Pussy Riot, Putin's Russia, Soviet-Era Prison Conditions, Freedom of Expression

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