Pussy Riot Member Starts Hunger Strike In Protest Of Prison Treatment

Imprisoned Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has detailed the treatment she been subjected to since the punk outfit were incarcerated last year, in an open letter that has surfaced this week.

According to the The Guardian, Tolokonnikova, has been forced to work up to 17 hours in a day, served rotten food and watch other inmates punish each other at the Mordovia prison camp. The punk musician claims a hunger strike is the only way a change can be made.

"The penal colony administration refuses to hear me. But I, in turn, refuse to back down from my demands. I will not remain silent, resigned to watch as my fellow prisoners collapse under the strain of slavery-like conditions," Tolokonnikova writes.

"I demand that the colony administration respect human rights; I demand that the Mordovia camp function in accordance with the law. I demand that we be treated like human beings, not slaves."

According to various media outlets, Tolokonnikova has been placed in solitary confinement since she began the hunger strike on Monday.

It's going on a year since the band were sentenced for charges pertaining to aggravated hooliganism, after their protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church in February, 2012. Tolokonnikova's bandmates Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich were also imprisoned, however Samutsevich has since been released under a suspended sentence.