Jailed Pussy Riot member cut off from contact, husband says

Pussy Riot rock band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, jailed for the band's “punk prayer” protest against the election of Russian President Vladimir Putin last year, has “disappeared” while in transit between Russian penal colonies, her husband and fellow artist-activist Pyotr Verzilov told Al Jazeera on Saturday.

Tolokonnikova has previously been able to contact family during her incarceration, but she has been unreachable for the past 13 days and officials have refused to disclose her current location, Verzilov said.

"The authorities found a way of cutting her off from the outside world," he said, adding that he believes this is a government attempt to deter international media coverage of her alleged struggles in prison.

Verzilov said that lengthy transits between penitentiaries are common in Russia, but that prisoners are typically given access to mobile phones to contact their families. Public relations officials at the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service could not immediately be reached on Saturday for comment.

Tolokonnikova drew renewed international attention in September, when she was hospitalized after a hunger strike to bring attention to what she called slave labor conditions and murder threats against her in prison.

Tolokonnikova was moved from a facility in the Morodovia region about 300 miles southeast of Moscow on Oct. 21, and officials have yet to release information about her whereabouts to her family. Verzilov said authorities told him on Saturday that she was transferred, but they did not say where she is.

Verzilov has started a picketing campaign outside the Russian Penitentiary Service in Moscow, with a counter marking the number of days his wife been out of communication.

Tolokonnikova's former lawyer in the case that resulted in her conviction, Nikolai Polozov, told Al Jazeera that Verzilov's longtime efforts to draw international attention to Tolokonnikova’s situation are bad for her.

Verzilov's "activity with support group(s) is not good, and now what we see is a reaction from the system to this activity," Polozov said.

But Verzilov said that international media attention is the only thing that can help protect Tolokonnikova from abuse while she is incarcerated.

"Basically, we are applying the tactic we've been applying the last two years, (which) is to draw as much international attention as possible," he said. "We are trying to make authorities follow the law, when they do not follow it."  

In Feb. 2011, Pussy Riot broke into Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior – a symbol of the politically influential Russian Orthodox Church – to perform a song they called a punk prayer. The lyrics criticized Church leaders' public support for Putin's presidential campaign.

"Virgin Mary, mother of God / Chase Putin far from me … The phantom of liberty is in heaven / Gay Pride sent to Siberia in chains / The head of the KGB / Their chief saint / Leads protestors to prison under escort / In order not to offend His Holiness / Women must give birth and love … Virgin Mary, Mother of God / Become a feminist," they sang – and shouted.  

Tolokonnikova and two other band members were convicted of hooliganism provoked by religious hatred, and were sentenced to two years in prison. One of the members, Yekaterina Samutsevich, appealed, had her sentence suspended and was freed on probation. Two other members fled authorities and are believed to be abroad.

Verzilov says that despite his wife's situation, "we do stand by what we've done 120 percent."

"We are people who want to drastically change the political system in Russia and put an end to the Putin regime in this country," he said. "We do what we feel we have to do, and after the government makes us pay the price they feel we should pay."

French New Wave film icon Jeanne Moreau, 85, recently joined a number of top artists worldwide who have voiced support for Tolokonnikova and her fellow jailed band member Maria Alyokhina. Moreau on Wednesday read a letter from Tolokonnikova on radio station France Culture.  

"I won't go back on what I've said. I don't intend to sit in silence," Moreau read from the letter.

Al Jazeera