Pussy RiotImprisoned Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has not been heard from in 13 days, though today Russian officials have stated that the 23-year-old is simply being moved to a different prison.
Tolokonnikova undertook a hunger strike from September 23 in protest of “slave labour” in the prison in which she was held. She has also accused officials at the prison of threatening her with death. She ended her strike on October 1 after Russian Federal Penitentiary Service promised to relocate her to a new facility, but now some believe she is in the midst of more punishment from prison authorities.
Tolokonnikova has not been heard from in almost two weeks and now her family and fellow Pussy Riot members have admitted they fear for her wellbeing.
“No one knows anything,” her father Andrei Tolokonnikov told BuzzFeed. “There's no proof she's alive, we don't know the state of her health. Is she sick? Has she been beaten?”
“They want to cut her off from the outside world,” her husband Petya Verzilov said.
“After two hunger strikes she had in October she must be still weak and physically vulnerable—I am very worried about her,” fellow Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevitch said to The Daily Beast.
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The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service have today issued a statement that says Tolokonnikova's whereabouts will be revealed to a close family member shortly.
“According to a decision made by FSIN [Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service] in regards to changing Nadezhda Tolokonnikova's location: she is currently being moved to a different correctional facility,” an official told Interfax news agency.
“Upon arrival to a particular institution, one of the relatives, chosen by Tolokonnikova, will be given the information.”
Tolokonnikova is due to be released from prison next March. She is serving a sentence for aggravated hooliganism, after a “punk prayer” protest the group undertook last February.
