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Pussy Riot has landed in London – and the anti-Putin punk activist group has plenty to say about Russia and, more specifically, the way in which they were treated in prison.
Members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, who were sentenced to two years in prison for a 40-second performance calling on the Virgin Mary to “kick [President Vladimir] Putin out” in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral in 2012, were released from jail in December after serving 18 months.
The pair has been vocal about their mistreatment and critical of Kremlin propaganda, since launching a prison reform project in Russia, as well as a website called Mediazona
Speaking to the Guardian
Pussy Riot is set to sue the Russian government over their ordeal, having filed a case at the European Court of Human Rights.
Show all 27 1 /27Pussy Riot: Story in pictures Pussy Riot: Story in pictures February 2012 Members of the punk band Pussy Riot perform at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow - the prank they were eventually arrested for
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures March 2012 One of the supporters of a female Russian punk band Pussy Riot holds a poster as he pickets outside a Moscow courthouse, on March 14, 2012, during the hearings on the women's arrests. A Moscow court confirmed today the detention of two members of the Pussy Riot until the end of April for trying to perform in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. Earlier Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin praised the women's arrests.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures April 2012 Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of female Russian punk band Pussy Riot, stands inside defendants cage in a Moscow court, on April 19, 2012, during the hearings on the Pussy Riot case. Three members of the all-woman punk band "Pussy Riot" were detained two months ago, after they climbed on the altar of Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral -- the country's central place of worship -- and sang a song they called a "Punk Prayer". The women have been charged with hooliganism committed by an organised group -- an unusually harsh charge for protesters.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures July 2012 Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Michael "Flea" Balzary (L) and lead vocalist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, Anthony Kiedis, wearing a T-shirt saying "Pussy Riot", performs at Tuborg Greenfest 2012, at Petrovsky Stadium, St Petersburg, Russia
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures August 2012 U.S. singer Madonna (C) performs during her concert at Olympic Hall in Moscow on August 7, 2012. US pop icon Madonna said Tuesday at her Moscow concert that she prayed for the freedom of the three members of the Pussy Riot protest band who face three years in jail for insulting Vladimir Putin in a church.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures August 2012 Supporters of punk group Pussy Riot, wearing the group's trademark coloured balaclavas, hold individual letters that spell the phrase "Blessed are the merciful" outside the Church of Christ the Saviour in central Moscow on August 15, 2012 protesting the incarceration of three band members. Russian security guards broke up a demonstration Wednesday in support of protest punk group Pussy Riot outside the Moscow cathedral where the women performed this year, activists said.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures August 2012 Members of the all-girl punk band "Pussy Riot" Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (C), Maria Alyokhina (R) and Yekaterina Samutsevich (L) are escorted by plicewomen inside a court building in Moscow on Agust 17, 2012. A Moscow court will pass judgement Friday on three women from a tiny punk band who captured global attention by defying the Russian authorities and ridiculing President Vladimir Putin in a church. Pussy Riot release rallies have stretched from Sydney to New York as a growing list of celebrities joined ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and pop icon Madonna in a campaign directed against Putin's crackdown on most dissent.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures September 2012 European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (R) addresses members of the European parliament as part of a plenary session, on September 11, 2012 in Strasbourg, during a debate on a strategic concept for the EU's external action and more particularly on the situation in Syria and developments in Russia, including the Pussy Riot case.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures September 2012 Opposition activists and supporters take part an anti-Putin protest in central in Moscow, on September 15, 2012. The sticker reads: For Russia without Putin ! Thousands marched today through Moscow to protest against the rule of Vladimir Putin in a test of the opposition's challenge to the Russian president four months after his inauguration. It was also the first mass action since the sentencing of three members of Pussy Riot to two years in prison for an anti-Putin protest in an Orthodox cathedral, which has become a rallying cause for many in the opposition.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures September 2012 Gera Verzilov age 6 ,Pyotr Verzilov, Executive Director of Amnesty International Suzanne Nossel and Yoko Ono attend the LennonOno grant For Peace award presentation at Liberty Hall at Ace Hotel on September 21, 2012 in New York City.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures February 2013 Freed Pussy Riot punk Yekaterina Samutsevich speaks during her interview with Agence France-Presse in Moscow on February 25, 2013. Samutsevich vowed to pursue every legal route to free her two jailed bandmates, saying there was still a chance the Russian authorities could free the two her bandmates, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, early.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures December 2013 Maria Alyokhina (C), one of the jailed members of anti-Kremlin punk band Pussy Riot, is surrounded by journalists and her supporters as she arrives in Moscow on December 23, 2013. Alyokhina, who was freed from prison under a Kremlin-backed amnesty slammed the measure as a mere publicity stunt and said that she would have preferred to remain in prison.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures December 2013 Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Russian punk group Pussy Riot arrives at an airport in Moscow on December 27, 2013. Two freed members of the anti-Kremlin punk group arrived back in Moscow after reuniting in Siberia, ahead of holding their first news conference since their release earlier this week. Their release two months early from their two-year prison terms came after an amnesty backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures January 2014 Members of the Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (centre L) and Maria Alyokhina (centre R), talk to the media during a preview of the nominees for the inaugural Prudential Eye Awards in Singapore on January 17, 2014. The two members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot made their first international appearance since their release from prison last month, ahead of the awards ceremony for emerging Asian artists for which their anti-Putin video is shortlisted.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures February 2014 Madonna introduces Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Maria Alyokhina of Pussy Riot onstage at the Amnesty International Concert presented by the CBGB Festival at Barclays Center on February 5, 2014 in New York City.
Pussy Riot: Story in pictures February 2014 A model with 'Pussy Riot' on her back walks the runway at the Pam Hogg show at the Fashion Scout venue during London Fashion Week AW14 at Freemasons Hall on February 14, 2014 in London, England.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures February 2014 Members of protest group Pussy Riot speak during a press conference on February 20, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures February 2014 Police officers detain Russian punk group Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova in central Moscow, late on February 24, 2014, during a protest against the trial of eight people accused of instigating mass riots after an opposition rally on Moscow's on Bolotnaya square turned violent on the eve of Vladimir Putin's inauguration as president in 2012. A Russian court sentenced today seven activists to prison terms of up to four years over a protest against President Vladimir Putin as police detained hundreds of supporters.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures November 2014 Tim Squirrell, Maria Alyokhina, Pyotr Verzilov and Nadya Tolokonnikova onstage at The Cambridge Union on November 15, 2014 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures June 2015
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures November 2017 Guests attend a preview of exhibition 'Art Riot' at the Saatchi Gallery on November 15, 2017 in London, England. Art Riot is a new exhibition featuring the works of Russian protest artists including Pussy Riot.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures December 2017 A member of Russian music group Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina (C) appears in court in Moscow, Russia on December 21, 2017
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures May 2018 Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot performs during the 2018 Hangout Festival on May 18, 2018 in Gulf Shores, Alabama
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures July 2018 A security guard detains a pitch invader during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final match between France and Croatia at Luzhniki Stadium
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures July 2018 nti-Kremlin Russian protest group Pussy Riot has taken responsibility for the invasion, Olga Kurachyova, a member of the punk band, said she was one of the people who ran onto the pitch during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Final between France and Croatia at Luzhniki Stadium on July 15, 2018 in Moscow, Russia
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures September 2018 Russian political activists and members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, Pyotr Verzilov's wife Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (L) and Pyotr Verzilov's girlfriend Veronika Nikulshina arrive to give a press conference on September 18, 2018 in Berlin, two days after Verzilov, a member of the band, was flown to Germany after suspected poisoning. - Pyotr Verzilov, was the victim of suspected poisoning with unknown substances but is now out of danger, his German doctors said.
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Pussy Riot: Story in pictures September 2018 Pussy-riot activist Pyotr Verzilov talks with a journalist during an interview in an apartment in Berlin on September 27, 2018. - Verzilov was able to leave the hospital after 11 days of care the Charite announced on September 26, 2018
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Tolokonnikova and Alekhina said: “This is why they [warders] very casually beat people up. They don’t have a sense that they [inmates] are human.”
Alyokhina added: “We try and cover everything about prisons and the broader law-enforcement field. If you read Mediazona for a week you won’t be able to say there are no political prisoners in Russia.”
But they said it is increasingly difficult for people to penetrate the Kremlin propaganda machine.
“When all media and TV talks only about Putin it’s very difficult for people to develop a sense that they can choose between various parties.”
They added that they supported Western sanctions against Russia in light of the conflict with Ukraine and would like to meet Edward Snowden.
Tolokonnikova and Alekhina will tonight speak at a reception at Amnesty International. The event will see the Pussy Riot duo addressing Amnesty activists who campaigned for their release.
Their visit also incorporates visiting Parliament and speaking at the Cambridge Union.
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