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Pussy Riot member detained in Moscow for action devoted to WWII anniversary

An administrative protocol was compiled against Alyokhina

MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. A member of the Pussy Riot feminist protest punk rock and performance art group Maria Alyokhina was detained in Moscow on Tuesday for an action devoted to the anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War, her lawyer Olga Karlova told TASS.

"Police detained my client Alyokhina. The reason for detention is as follows: she was detained for planning and holding an action devoted to the anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War and for violating the terms of her house arrest," she said.

According to the lawyer, Alyokhina left her house to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus infection, and notified investigators about that in advance.

"An administrative protocol was compiled against Alyokhina under article 19.3 of the Russian Administrative Code. It says that she reportedly refused to proceed into the car of police officers. However, we have a video proving that Alyokhina leaves a taxi and goes to a police car," Karlova continued.

Along with Alyokhina, police also detained Olga Shalina, the head of the Moscow branch of the Eduard Limonov’s Other Russia organization. "A protocol of an administrative offense was also compiled against her, but I don’t know yet under which article," the lawyer said.

The Great Patriotic War started on June 22, 1941, when Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war. In 2007 a special law was passed to put the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow (June 22) on the list of memorable dates.

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