Husband of ‘Pussy Riot’ band member tries to locate imprisoned wife

On Tuesday, Russia's human rights ombudsman confirmed that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, an imprisoned member of Pussy Riot, the self-described “Russian feminist performance art group,” has been moved to a prison camp in Siberia. Her family was last aware of her whereabouts on Oct. 21, when she was moved from a women’s prison camp in the Russian region of Mordovia.

Tolokonnikova is currently serving a two-year prison term, stemming from when her group protested Vladimir Putin's 2012 re-election bid by performing a song called “Virgin Mary, Kick Out Putin” in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior on Feb. 21, 2012. After Putin was elected to his third term as president, two members of Pussy Riot were imprisoned, and a third Pussy Riot member had her sentence suspended.
 
When Tolokonnikova was at the prison camp in Mordovia, she started a hunger strike on Sep. 23, 2013, saying in a statement, “I will not remain silent, watching in resignation as my fellow prisoners collapse under slave-like conditions. I demand that human rights be observed at the prison.”

Pyotr Verzilov, the husband of Tolokonnikova, the father of her five-year-daughter Gera, and a performance artist and activist, joined Consider This host Antonio Mora live from Siberia on Nov. 12, 2013. Mora asked Verzilov for his thoughts about Tolokonnikova’s imprisonment, saying “Was it all worth it?” Verzilov replied, “It’s not like you can speak in those terms. Obviously, any political activist in Russia has to do what he feels has to be done and then the government makes him pay a certain price. So it’s not like you know this price beforehand and you can choose your actions knowing that price. No, we do what we think must be done to change this country and then the government makes us pay this price.”