Feminist punk rocker Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has been arrested in her native Russia after taking part in a protest.
The Pussy Riot star was detained alongside fellow activist Katya Nenasheva on Friday (local time) for demonstrating in Moscow's Bolotnaya Square in a bid to raise awareness about the trouble females have adapting to life after prison.
According to reports, the women were dressed in prison outfits while they laid out red, white and blue strips of fabric which they wanted to sew together to form the Russian flag, with the phrase 'Prison Camp Russia' emblazoned on the material.
However, police reportedly intervened before they could finish and they were taken into custody.
Tolokonnikova released a statement about the protest prior to her arrest, which reads, "For 30 days the activist Katherine (Katya) Nenasheva will be living her regular life wearing a prison robe of a female convict...
"June 12 is the 18th day of Katherine Nenasheva's action and also Russia Day - an important holiday in Russia that celebrates our flag and Constitution. On this day I am joining Katherine to sew a huge Russian flag in the same prison uniform that I wore during my time in the prison camps.
"We will sew the Russian flag on Bolotnaya square, the square that became the starting point for many years in prison for dozens of activists who went out to protest [President Vladimir Putin's] regime in May 2012. So here we are, on this square, and we will sew the sign PRISON CAMP RUSSIA to the face of the Russian flag on Russia Day."
The news comes less than a month after Tolokonnikova filed a lawsuit against Russian authorities for failing to properly investigate a whipping that she and fellow protesters were subjected to during the Sochi Winter Olympics last year.
The rocker-turned-activist spent a total of 21 months behind bars on hooliganism charges following a protest at a church in Moscow in 2012. She and her bandmate Maria Alekhina were freed in December, 2013 as part of a political amnesty.
WENN.com
source: newshub archive
