The Federalist: Pussy Riot singer "missing" while on the way to Putin's Siberian prison camp

Friday, November 8, 2013

Pussy Riot singer "missing" while on the way to Putin's Siberian prison camp

Off To The Gulag You Go

Fears mount as Pussy Riot member

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is ‘lost in transit’

Concern for jailed Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova mounted on her 24th birthday Thursday, after her husband said she could not be found in the Russian prison colony where authorities reportedly sent her in October.

Tolokonnikova has not been seen since being moved on October 22 after protesting alleged prison abuses at her former colony in central Russia and holding a hunger strike.

Tolokonnikova is one of two Pussy Riot members now serving two-year prison terms for performing a protest "punk prayer" in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral in the run-up to presidential elections last year reports AFP News.

She and fellow bandmember Maria Alyokhina are due for release in March.

Russia's human rights ombudsman said this week that Tolokonnikova was being transferred and was safe. Her husband Pyotr Verzilov believed that she was on her way to a new colony in Siberia.

However having made the trek to the snow-covered Krasnoyarsk region, Verzilov said on Thursday that his wife was not there.

"The authorities of the colony in the taiga (region) told us that they don't have Tolokonnikova and don't know when she will arrive. 19 days without contact with Nadya," he wrote on Twitter.

"Snow, snow, snow, minus 20 degrees (Celsius) and camps where somewhere they are hiding Nadya," he wrote, posting pictures near the colony where Tolokonnikova was said to be headed.

The search in Siberia went on as Tolokonnikova's lawyers submitted legal documents contesting her verdict and sentence made by the Khamovnichesky court in Moscow.

"We are demanding the verdict be annulled," lawyer Irina Khrunova told AFP. She added that her client's transfer could "last a long time" since Russian law does not set any limits on how long its could take.

The big stud Putin gets off on putting
little girls in Siberian prison camps.

The conviction and sentencing of Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina on charges of hooliganism sparked an international outcry.

After being jailed, Tolokonnikova penned a letter published in Russian media listing alleged abuses in her old prison colony, including round-the-clock "slave labor" work, beatings, and lack of sanitary facilities.

She went on a hunger strike in protest, ending it only after having health problems and being placed on a drip in the prison hospital.

After that she was transferred, with officials giving no details of her destination.

Her husband, though, said he received information from a reliable source that she was moved to penal colony number 50 in the town of Nizhny Ingash, in Siberia.

Calling for action in Tolokonnikova's case, Amnesty International said this week that "there are serious concerns regarding her safety and wellbeing".

"There are no legal limitations as to how long a prisoner can be in transit," the rights organisation said, calling Tolokonnikova a prisoner of conscience. "The lengthy transit could be a means of pressure and de facto punishment for her recent open letter."

Prison authorities are not required to tell relatives of the convicts' whereabouts until 10 days after transferring them to a new place.

A group of Tolokonnikova's supporters staged fireworks for her birthday near the headquarters of the prison service in Moscow in the early hours of Thursday.

Pussy Riot
Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist punk rock protest group based in Moscow. Their lyrical themes include feminism, LGBT rights, opposition to the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they regard as a dictator, and links between the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church and Putin.
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Two of the group members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were arrested and charged with hooliganism. They were convicted of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred”, and each was sentenced to two years imprisonment. Two other members of the group left Russia fearing prosecution.
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The case was adopted by human rights groups including Amnesty International, which designated the women prisoners of conscience, and by a wide range of musicians including Madonna, Courtney Love, Sting, and Yoko Ono. Public opinion in Russia was generally less sympathetic towards the women.
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Putin stated that the band had "undermined the moral foundations" of the nation and "got what they asked for".

See more at Pussy Riot.

2 comments:

Unknown said...: Yes!! The lengthy transit could be a means of pressure and de facto punishment for her recent open letter.

Regards,
Kopi Luwak; November 8, 2013 at 2:13 AM
Gary said...: Thanks for posting, but no more ads please.; November 8, 2013 at 5:37 AM

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