Pussy Riot Member Nadezhda Tolokonnova Hospitalized

Russia’s Pussy Riot found themselves in trouble after defacing a cathedral in Moscow, and they were all sent to prison. One of the members, Nadezhda Tolokonnova, was hospitalized after she started complaining about headaches and suffering from overwork at a prison colony known to be tough, according to her lawyer.

Tolokonnova has been suffering from her headaches since spring of last year and it got a lot worse when she was sent to a prison colony in October to serve her two year sentence for the band’s protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral, her lawyer Irina Khrunova said. The lawyer sent a request to prison officials for Tolokonnova to be sent to the hospital back in December for a detailed medical check, and she was finally admitted on Jan.24th.

Yekaterina Samutsevich, a band member who also was sentenced to two years in August but later released on appeal, added that Tolokonnikova feels exhausted after working long hours with little sleep. “They don’t allow her to have any rest; she works nearly round the clock,” Samutsevich told independent Rain TV. “She said she feels tired, extremely tired.”

I.M.