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Human rights inspectors visit penal colony housing Pussy Riot member

Poor conditions initially confirmed

Ilya Shablinskiy. Photo president-sovet.ru

Ilya Shablinskiy. Photo president-sovet.ru

MOSCOW, September 25. (Itar-Tass) – Ilya Shablinskiy, member of the presidential human rights council claims that information conveyed by Nadezhda Tolokonnikova regarding violation of human rights in her colony is, in fact, well-grounded.

“I’ve already talked with several inmates, made my hair stand on end, “ he told Itar-Tass. A group of Human Rights Council members are to conduct inspection of the colony housing the Pussy Riot member on Wednesday.

Maria Kannabikh, member of Russia’s Public Chamber, announced that Tolokonnikova’s cell is warm and the inmate herself looks fine. “I’ve met with girls who work with Tolokonnikova; they say there are no conflicts and that she’s a normal person,” she added. Kannabikh noted that inmates indeed do sometimes work 11 to 12 hours, but only if they have to process rush orders.

Earlier on Wednesday, Tolokonnikova's lawyers addressed the Prosecutor General’s Office demanding to make a comprehensive enquiry in Mordovia’s penal colony #14 concerning women’s rights violation.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Pussy Riot member currently serving time in a penal colony, has complained about threat to her life, reportedly due to refusal to transfer her to another detachment, and announced a hunger strike on September 23.

In August, Defendants of the Pussy Riot punk bank requested changing the sentence for Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina to penal labor instead of penal colony.

On August 17, 2012, Moscow’s Khamovniki court sentenced three members of Pussy Riot - Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich - to two years in a prison colony on charges of hooliganism aimed at inciting religious hatred after their punk prayer in Moscow’s Christ Savior Cathedral. On October 10, 2012, the third woman was released on appeal.

The sentence for other two members of the band remained unchanged. Alyokhina is serving her sentence in Nizhny Novgorod Region and Tolokonnikova - in the Republic of Mordovia.

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