Jailed Pussy Riot member sent to hospital due to hunger strike

A jailed member of the punk group Pussy Riot has been taken to hospital on the seventh day of a hunger strike to protest at what she calls a persecution campaign.

Maria Alekhina was transferred to a hospital in her prison colony in the Ural Mountains town of Berezniki, said Pyotr Verzilov, the husband of one of her band mates.

Alekhina went on a hunger strike after she was barred from attending her parole hearing. Three band members were convicted last year of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” for a protest against Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral.