 Source: HRO.org (info) Maria Alekhina has been moved out of the hospital of the penal colony, Petr Verzilov, husband of imprisoned Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, reported on his microblog on 11 June. Alekhina went on hunger strike in protest at not being allowed to be present at her parole hearing, and requested that the judge be removed. The judge refused to recuse himself and continued to hear the parole case. In the upshot, Alekhina was denied parole. Later she declared that she was ready to end her hunger strike if the usual regime for prisoners was reinstated in the penal colony. On 28 May she was hospitalized. Perm human rights defenders Sergei Isaev and Igor Averkiev who have visited the colony where Alekhina is held, report: "Among the violations was the overcrowding in Section 16 and the lack of hot water. At the same time, there was insufficient information to assess a number of issues, and therefore we shall continue to conduct checks." On the initial cause of the hunger strike, the refusal of the judge to permit Alekhina to be present in person at the parole hearing, Sergei Isaev and Igor Averkiev point out that the video link is a standard way of dealing with this issue in Perm region. However, the human rights defenders are certain that although the denial is based on the provisions of the law, it contradicts the spirit and logic of human rights and the requirements for a fair trial. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina have been sentenced to two years in a penal colony on charges of hooliganism. The third person convicted, Ekaterina Samutsevich, was given a suspended sentence on appeal. The three were convicted for their part in the punk-prayer, ‘Mother of God, Rid us of Putin!’, performed by Pussy Riot in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in February 2012. |
|
|
