Pussy Riot member Maria Alekhina moved to solitary cell in Russia prison
MOSCOW Russian prison officials say one of the jailed members of the punk band Pussy Riot has been moved into a solitary cell following tensions with other inmates.
Federal Penitentiary Service spokesman Stanislav Volegov said on Rain TV Friday that Maria Alekhina was moved into a "safe" cell at her own request. Other prison officials said, according to Russian news wires, that Alekhina made the request over her perception that fellow prisoners had a negative attitude to her.
Alekhina and two other band members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich, were sentenced in August to two years in prison on hooliganism charges for performing a "punk prayer" against President Vladimir Putin at Moscow's main cathedral. Samutsevich was released on appeal, but Tolokonnikova and Alekhina are serving their sentences in prison camps.