The Guardian reports that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has been exiled to a remote prison colony in Siberia. She is one of the members of Pussy Riot, the Russian punk band that has become an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin’s oppressive government. She had gone “missing” from her prison about 10 days ag
The band was charged with “hooliganism” in 2012 and sentenced to two years in prison. Their real crime was forcefully criticizing Putin’s Russia, which Tolokonnikova continued to do from prison.
Now, Putin is going full Soviet to shut her up and intimidate other critics.
Tolokonnikova’s husband, Petya Verzilov, said he had received “100% reliable” information that she was being moved to a prison in the Krasnoyarsk region, four time zones and 2,000 miles from Moscow. The specific prison is not yet known, said Verzilov, but early indications suggest that it will be Prison No 50 in Nizhny Ingash, a further 200 miles from the regional centre of Krasnoyarsk.
Verzilov said he believed the move was punishment for Tolokonnikova’s public statements, and decision had been taken to remove her from the media spotlight as much as possible.
“They do not have the ability to put on the usual psychological or physical pressure they can use with inmates because of the high profile of the case,” he said. “So they have chosen this as the punishment instead.”
Tolokonnikova was moved after going on hunger strike over conditions in her women’s prison camp, located in the region of Mordovia. In an open letter, she described a slave-like forced-labour routine, with 17-hour working days and an array of sadistic punishments. The conditions she described were reminiscent of Soviet-era Gulag literature, and sparked a huge debate both inside Russia and internationally.
The news actually broke last night, but so far the Obama administration has said nothing about it.
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