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Pussy Riot’s Tolokonnikova treated in Siberian hospital

By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 18 November 2013

Jailed Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is being treated in a hospital in Siberia, according to her husband.

As previously reported, Tolokonnikova was transferred out of the prison where she had been held last month, at which point her whereabouts became unclear. Russian law states that the families of prisons must be notified of the new location of any prisoner within ten days of them arriving there, though the long distances travelled can sometimes lead to fairly long periods without contact.

Earlier this month, Tolokonnikova’s husband Peter Verzilov said that he had received “100% reliable” information that she had been moved to a prison in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia, four time zones and 2000 miles from Moscow, though was not sure of her exact location. The Pussy Riot member’s family reckon the move is designed to reduce the impact of protests led by Tolokonnikova and her supporters, including her hunger strikes, over the perceived injustice in the wider case, and conditions in Russia’s prisons.

Last week, Verzilov told Rolling Stone that he had finally spoken to his wife, establishing that she is now being treated in Tuberculosis Hospital No 1 in the Krasnoyarsk region. He added that she is not being treated for TB, but was simply being checked over by doctors.

“She was in good condition”, Verzilov told Rolling Stone. “She said her conditions were OK, but that … she was in very strict isolation. She’s not sick right now, she’s just having procedures and tests related to the hunger strike”.

Where Tolokonnikova will serve the remainder of her sentence is, as yet, still unclear.