23 May 2013

Jailed Pussy Riot Member Starts Hunger Strike

By : Jailed Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina has started a hunger strike to protest having been denied access to her own parole hearing. The 24-year-old Russian artist was scheduled for a hearing today, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, she was not allowed to attend. In response, she barred her attorney from attending in her stead. "I'm declaring a hunger strike and order my defense lawyers not to take part in this court trial," Alyokhina said.
Alyokhina argued that the regional court in Berizniki was only across the road to the penal colony in the Urals, where she's been imprisoned since she and two bandmates were sentenced to two years in prison last year after they were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religous hatred for staging a "punk prayer" protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral.

 Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova Denied Parole
Court officials maintained her presence wasn't necessary for the hearing and that she could consult with her lawyer over a video link. Though the video link wasn't enough for Alyokhina during her hearing, she used the platform to make her protest announcement. Russian courts have now pushed back the hearing to tomorrow.
Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich were convicted last August after court proceedings that were criticized as a show trial intended to chill dissent. Samutsevich was freed on appeal last October, though Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova are still imprisoned. Alyokhina sought a deferred sentence in January to care for her young son, but was denied by the courts. Tolokonnikova was denied parole just last month.
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2 comments:

  1. IndianaJohn23/5/13 5:09 pm

    She is actually a slutty dumbhead who desecrated The Russian National Cathedral. Her handlers who used and dumped her were not identified, as far as I know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Angelo Agathangelou23/5/13 6:01 pm

      Excellent hearsay. Please do send on any evidence and we would be happy to post it.

      I have speculated that she/they were just setting themselves up for a surviving sex pistols future... And making a political point into the bargain.

      Then again it feels like the general helpless outcry of a world youth that instinctively knows things are changing for the worse.
      e.g. 75% youth unemployment in parts of Athens.

      Do tell us more about her handlers. How is the church in Russia helping the youth?

      Delete

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