MOSCOW, November 14 (RIA Novosti) – Prison authorities in Russia confirmed Thursday that jailed anti-Kremlin punk rocker Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has been moved to a prison in Siberia, definitively ending speculation about her current whereabouts.
Tolokonnikova was transferred out of a penal colony in the Russian republic of Mordovia almost one month ago after launching hunger strikes in protest at the conditions of her detention. Authorities declined to inform relatives and colleagues where she had been taken, prompting widespread outrage.
Tolokonnikova is serving a two-year sentence for participating in an anti-Kremlin performance in a Moscow cathedral staged by the Pussy Riot feminist punk band. The charge she was jailed on last summer was hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.
In a curt two-line statement on its website, the Federal Penitentiary Service said Wednesday that Tolokonnikova had arrived at a facility in the Krasnoyarsk territory and that relatives had been informed of the move in accordance with the law.
The last time Tolokonnikova was seen by anybody in the outside world was on October 18, when she received a visit from her lawyer.
Denis Krivosheyev, Europe and Central Asia deputy director at Amnesty International, said in a statement last week that Tolokonnikova’s protracted disappearance may have been a punishment for her complaints about her prison.
Unsourced speculation had swirled among Russian bloggers that Tolokonnikova had died at some point over the past few weeks.
