By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
MOSCOW, Russia – In the light of health concerns, jailed Pussy Riot member, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has begun eating again. Absent concessions, she claims the hunger strike will start again following her medical treatment.
In Russia, convicted criminals fear the Mordovia prison camps, which are described as “grim, decaying and intimidating.”
In 2012, punk rock musician and member of Pussy Riot, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was convicted of “hooliganism” for performing a “punk prayer” critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was, at the time, Prime Minister.
On 23 September 2013, with about six months left on her two-year sentence, Tolokonnikova began a hunger strike. She claimed the prison conditions were intolerable in Mordovia, and demanded relocation.
Tolokonnikova sent a letter to the news site, Lenta, explaining her unsanitary “slave labor” conditions. Regardless of illness or injury, women must work up to 17 hours each day. Failure to complete their duties results in beatings or worse.
She has demanded an investigation into rights violations in her penal colony, removal of “psychological pressure” on inmates in the colony who talked about penitentiary conditions to inspectors, and her transfer to another penitentiary.
The deputy on 1 October 2013, Russian Parliamentary Deputy Ilya Ponomarev met with Tolokonnikova. According to Ponomarev, doctors feared for Tolokonnikova’s life. She had a “very visible” rash on her skin that. Without food, doctors could not treat her without antibiotics.
“She was very bad,” Ponomarev said. “They were saying that unrecoverable damage was approaching, and I think they were right.”
In any event, Tolokonnikova claims that her protest will continue if the prison camp’s conditions do not improve. “I am not ending my hunger strike, I am suspending it temporarily because my physical condition is now very bad and there are the beginnings of health complications.”
While prison authorities denied Tolokonnikova’s allegations about the camp and accused her of lying, local authorities continued their investigation into her claims.
However, former Mordovia prisoner, Svetlana Bakhmina said that she can corroborate Tolokonnikova’s allegations.
“It’s like torture,” she said. “The system between the administration and the convicts is not just based on subordination, but humiliation, fear, intimidation and physical force.”
When authorities refused to let Bakhmina call her children, she also went on a hunger strike. She said the hard part was not the hunger, it was the psychological pressure from prison authorities.
Earlier this year, Maria Alyokhina, another convicted member of Pussy Riot, went on a hunger strike to protest conditions in another prison camp. Tolokonnikova is waiting to see if she can win similar concessions as Alyokhina.
For further information, please see:
CNN International – Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Jailed Pussy Riot Member, Halts Hunger Strike – October 3, 2013
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty – Pussy Riot Member May Resume Hunger Strike – October 3, 2013
Rolling Stone – Pussy Riot Member Was Approaching ‘Unrecoverable Damage’ – October 3, 2013
Deutsche Welle – Pussy Riot Member Ends Hunger Strike against Russian Prison Conditions – October 1, 2013
Impunity Watch – Conviction Upheld for 2 Pussy Riot Members, 1 Released – October 12, 2012
