Amnesty Demands Kremlin Reveal Location Of Pussy Riot Member

Jailed Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International says the failure by Russian officials to disclose the whereabouts of jailed Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova shows that they are trying to silence her.

Tolokonnikova's location has been unknown since October 22, shortly after she complained of threats from prison officials and bad jail conditions and went on a hunger strike.

Tolokonnikova's husband, Pyotr Verzilov, said a prison official told him she had been transferred to a prison in Siberia, thousands of kilometers from her family.

But Russian authorities have not confirmed the location of the prison.

Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty's Europe and Central Asia deputy director, said in a statement on November 6 that Russian officials must "immediately disclose [Tolokonnikova's] whereabouts."

Tolokonnikova is serving a two-year prison sentence for hooliganism for a 2012 performance in a Moscow cathedral that criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin.


With reporting by AP