Two members of Russian punk group Pussy Riot convicted of protesting against president Vladimir Putin in a cathedral have been sent to penal colonies far from Moscow despite requesting to serve their terms in the capital.
Maria Alyokhina (24), and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (22), were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" in August and sentenced to two years in jail, a punishment that many in the west said was too harsh.
An incident in which they had burst into Moscow's main Russian Orthodox Cathedral and performed a "punk prayer" to urge the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin infuriated the church and many Russians. Kremlin critics said their trial was part of a crackdown on dissent orchestrated by Putin, who began a six-year presidential term in May.
The two women lost their appeals in the case on October 10th last. Their lawyers said they had tried to argue that they should be allowed to remain in jail in Moscow, saying it would have permitted them to be closer to their small children. They had also cited health and safety concerns at far-flung penal colonies.
"They have been sent away," one of their lawyers, Mark Feigin, told Reuters, saying he did not know where the women had been dispatched. By law, relatives must be informed once a convict arrives at a prison, but the trip can take days.
One women's prison is about 100km from Moscow, but most are much further away. Former collaborators of the women who are part of a street-art group said on Twitter that Tolokonnikova had been sent to Mordovia, about 500km east of Moscow, and Alyokhina to the Perm region near the Ural Mountains, about 1,100km east. This has not been confirmed.
The duo had been held in a Moscow detention centre since their arrests in March. Western governments and musicians including Madonna had said their sentences were disproportionate, but Mr Putin voiced support for the sentences, saying the state must protect the feelings of the faithful.
The dominant Russian Orthodox Church has cast the women's protest as part of a concerted attack against the church and Russian traditions.
A third convicted member of Pussy Riot, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was released on appeal when a court suspended her sentence after her lawyer argued that she had been pulled away from the cathedral's altar before the protest song began.
Reuters