Pussy Riot To Prison Colony, Two Band Members Sent To Soviet-Era Camps

Pussy Riot members have been sent to a prison colony in remote areas of Russia, and the one member of the trio who was freed has reported the two other women have been sent to some of the harshest prison camps to serve out their sentences.

The Pussy Riot members sent to a prison colony are Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Maria Alyokhina, 24. The women, both of whom are mothers to small children, were shipped from the prison in Moscow in which they’ve been held since their arrest to prison colonies in Mordovia and Perm, respectively.

In a brief statement, Pussy Riot addressed the prison colony transfer for Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina, saying the two camps were “the harshest camps of all the possible choices.” The New York Times quotes Marina Lapenkova of AFP as saying:

“The Perm region, where temperatures can fall as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius in winter, housed Stalin-era labour camps, one of which has been turned into a museum about the history of political repression … Mordovia is a region dotted with lakes that is chiefly known for its prison camps dating back to the Stalin era.”

The site also quotes The Guardian‘s Miriam Elder as noting that the Pussy Riot members sent to prison colonies “had petitioned to serve their sentences in Moscow, arguing that they wanted to be close to their children … Alyokhina has a five-year-old son named Filipp, while Tolokonnikova has a four-year-old daughter named Gera.”

The Pussy Riot members were each sent to their prison colony on Saturday to serve out their sentences, and transport is said to take weeks to months.