Freed Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova calls for boycott of Winter Olympics
telegraph
2014-02-15
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The final jailed member of the Russian punk bank Pussy Riot released from custody following an amnesty law passed by parliament, calls for a boycott of the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was released from a Siberian prison colony on Monday and was met by dozens of journalists who had been waiting outside in the freezing cold.
Just hours earlier another band member, Maria Alekhina, was released from another prison colony outside the Volga river city of Nizhny Novgorod.
Talking to reporters as she walked freely through the streets of the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Tolokonnikova lambasted the amnesty as window-dressing by the Kremlin ahead of the Sochi Games, and urged European countries to consider an Olympic boycott.
Tolokonnikova also insisted that her time in prison had not been wasted.
"I have acquired a unique experience and it will be much easier for me to engage in human rights activities than before. I've matured and learned about the state from within, I've seen this small totalitarian machine as it is from the inside. Russia is built on a prison colony. That is why it is so important to change the prison system in order to change Russia," she told reporters.
She told reporters that she and Alekhina will form a group to engage in the human rights movement.
Tolokonnikova, Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich, were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years in prison for the performance at Moscow's main cathedral in March 2012.
Samutsevich was released several months later on suspended sentence.
The band members said their protest was meant to raise their concern about increasingly close ties between the state and the church.
The amnesty that enabled the band members' release is seen as the Kremlin's attempt to soothe criticism of Russia's human rights record ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.
The Russian parliament passed the amnesty bill last week, allowing the release of thousands of inmates.
Alekhina and Tolokonnikova, who were due for release in March, qualify for amnesty because they have small children.
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Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was released from a Siberian prison colony on Monday and was met by dozens of journalists who had been waiting outside in the freezing cold.
Just hours earlier another band member, Maria Alekhina, was released from another prison colony outside the Volga river city of Nizhny Novgorod.
Talking to reporters as she walked freely through the streets of the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Tolokonnikova lambasted the amnesty as window-dressing by the Kremlin ahead of the Sochi Games, and urged European countries to consider an Olympic boycott.
Tolokonnikova also insisted that her time in prison had not been wasted.
"I have acquired a unique experience and it will be much easier for me to engage in human rights activities than before. I've matured and learned about the state from within, I've seen this small totalitarian machine as it is from the inside. Russia is built on a prison colony. That is why it is so important to change the prison system in order to change Russia," she told reporters.
She told reporters that she and Alekhina will form a group to engage in the human rights movement.
Tolokonnikova, Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich, were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years in prison for the performance at Moscow's main cathedral in March 2012.
Samutsevich was released several months later on suspended sentence.
The band members said their protest was meant to raise their concern about increasingly close ties between the state and the church.
The amnesty that enabled the band members' release is seen as the Kremlin's attempt to soothe criticism of Russia's human rights record ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.
The Russian parliament passed the amnesty bill last week, allowing the release of thousands of inmates.
Alekhina and Tolokonnikova, who were due for release in March, qualify for amnesty because they have small children.
Get the latest headlines http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Subscribe to The Telegraph http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=telegraphtv
Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/telegraph.co.uk
Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/telegraph
Follow us on Google+ https://plus.google.com/102891355072777008500/
Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Daily Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.
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