Members of Pussy Riot sent to brutal Russian prison camps

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Members of Pussy Riot sent to brutal Russian prison camps

One of the three members of the band Pussy Riot has been released after a judge found she wasn’t part of the cathedral stunt that landed the group in hot water. The other two however have apparently been sent to “brutal” prison camps in Siberia.

Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova will serve the remainder of their two-year sentences at Russian penal colonies in regions known for hosting multiple prison camps, including Soviet Union-era gulags.

Alyokhina was sent to Perm, while Tolokonnikova was sent to Mordovia, according to their lawyer. But prison officials aren’t saying exactly which camps will host the women. A tweet from Pussy Riot’s band account says they are the most “brutal camps of all possible options.”

Yekaterina Samutsevich, the third imprisoned Pussy Riot member, was released last week after a judge determined she was not part of the anti-Putin cathedral protest that landed the three women in jail for “hooliganism” earlier this year.

Former colony prisoners have compared Russia’s camps to “nasty Girl Scout camp” — an archaic “no-man’s land” where women share rooms with 30-40 others, exercise in -22-degree weather and spend their days hunched over sewing machines.

Via