A jailed member of the Pussy Riot feminist performance-art group has been moved to what penal colony officials called a "safe cell" after she announced her decision to start a hunger strike.
The federal agency overseeing Russia's penitentiaries said on September 23 that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was placed in a solitary cell in response to her claims that she was receiving threats from prison officials and other inmates.
In a statement made public the previous day, Tolokonnikova wrote that she began her hunger strike to protest the alleged abuse of inmates' rights and threats to kill her by prison guards.
Tolokonnikova and fellow Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina are serving two-year prison sentences after being convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred."
They were arrested after staging a protest performance against President Vladimir Putin in an Orthodox cathedral in Moscow in February 2012.
The federal agency overseeing Russia's penitentiaries said on September 23 that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was placed in a solitary cell in response to her claims that she was receiving threats from prison officials and other inmates.
In a statement made public the previous day, Tolokonnikova wrote that she began her hunger strike to protest the alleged abuse of inmates' rights and threats to kill her by prison guards.
Tolokonnikova and fellow Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina are serving two-year prison sentences after being convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred."
They were arrested after staging a protest performance against President Vladimir Putin in an Orthodox cathedral in Moscow in February 2012.
