Pussy Riot member taken to hospital following hunger strike

Jailed Pussy Riot member and political activist, Maria Alyokhina has been hopsitalised on the seventh day of her ongoing hunger strike.

Alyokhina took a hunger strike vow in a protest against a Russian court’s refusal to let her attend her own parole hearing last week, one which she subsequently lost. One of her bandmates’ husband, Pyotr Verzilov told reporters that she had been taken ill and was being monitored at a medical center in her prison.

Last year, three members of the punk band were found guilty of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and were sentenced to two years in jail following the performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The song requested that the Virgin Mary drive Russian president Vladimir Putin from power.

Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, have been named prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International. Samutsevich was released in October.

[via CMU]