Maria Alekhina the artist and member of the notorious art/punk band Pussy Riot has ended her 11-day hunger strike after prison authorities met her demands. She had complained that officials at her prison colony in the Ural Mountains has orchestrated a campaign to turn other inmates against her by instigating a security crackdown. Inmates, who were previously allowed to enter and leave their workplace freely, had to wait for up to an hour for prison guards to escort them.
Pyotr Verzilov, husband of jailed bandmate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, told Associated Press that Alekhina called Saturday (June 1) to say she has ended her action after prison officials restored the normal security regime. Mr Verzilov also told Agence France-Presse: “Maria said that the prison administration took her on a special tour of the colony, to show her that her demands have been met.”
Alekhina and Tolokonnikova are serving two-year sentences over an irreverent punk protest against Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral. Yekaterina Samutsevich had her sentence suspended on appeal last October. Tolokonnikova was denied parole last month and not allowed to attend her parole hearing. Alyokhina has spent five months in solitary confinement after officials deliberately lodged her with hardened criminals and encouraged them to intimidate her.
The artist/musicians were jailed for two years last August for performing an anti-Kremlin song in Moscow’s main cathedral, Christ the Saviour, on 21 February. They were convicted of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” over the anti-Putin “punk prayer”. The judge stated that the women had “crudely undermined social order” and shown a “complete lack of respect”,during their action in February. The Members of the band have always professed that their “punk prayer” was a political act in protest, against Church leader’s support of President Vladimir Putin, not an act against the Church itself. Conditions are reported to be rough and basic at the work camps located in Perm and Mordovia, east of Moscow. Those areas were traditionally used for mass prison colonies in the Soviet era.