Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova hospitalized in prison camp

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of female Russian punk band Pussy Riot, sits inside a defendants cage in a Moscow court, July 4, 2012. / Getty

Moscow A jailed member of the Pussy Riot feminist punk band has been hospitalized and had complained of headaches and of suffering from overwork at a prison colony known for its tough conditions, a fellow band member said Friday.

An official confirmed that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who is serving a two-year sentence for an irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral, is in a hospital at her prison colony in Mordovia in western Russia. But Federal Prison Service spokeswoman Kristina Belousova declined to specify her illness or comment on her condition, saying only it was "nothing serious."

She didn't say when exactly Tolokonnikova was admitted, but said it happened recently.

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Yekaterina Samutsevich, a band member who also was sentenced to two years in August but later released on appeal, added that during their trial Tolokonnikova said she was suffering from headaches and the judge ignored it. Samutsevich said that Tolokonnikova feels exhausted after working long hours with little sleep.

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Russian female punk band on trial

"They don't allow her to have any rest; she works nearly round the clock," Samutsevich told independent Rain TV on Friday. "She said she feels tired, extremely tired."

Pyotr Verzilov, Tolokonnikova's husband, said the hospitalization was connected with an appointment Tolokonnikova had been scheduled to have before she was sent to the colony, rather than a specific illness. "Obviously, the conditions aren't that great, but her lawyer's dealing with it," he told The Associated Press.

In an interview published last week in the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, Tolokonnikova stoically described harsh prison conditions, saying she doesn't expect any leniency from authorities.

Tolokonnikova, who works at a sewing machine like most female prisoners in Russia's prison colonies, told the paper that she has had her fingers punctured by the needle but has picked up speed and experience and can now meet her quota of making lining for 320 jackets a day. Like other prisoners, she bathes once a week and uses cold water to wash the rest of the week.

"I am not paying much attention to living conditions," she said in an interview filmed in December. "I'm ascetic, and living conditions matter little for me."

Tolokonnikova said she meditates to prevent her spirit from being dulled by the monotonous labor and added that the main thing she misses at her prison colony is the ability to read freely.

Tolokonnikova, Samutsevich and the third band member, Maria Alekhina, were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred in August after they raucously prayed to the Virgin Mary for the deliverance from Putin at Christ the Savior Cathedral. Samutsevich was freed in October, but the two others were sent to prison colonies. The verdict has drawn global outrage, highlighting Russia's intolerance of dissent.

[duzmafuzt]

Read? Guess this article is good for something. The lady likes to read. Let her read. Was not Stalin himself a very ascetic mofo? It could be great humanitarian news,and hope, for the world's oppressed too. Let her read. if she is as tough, as PR thought they were, invading an iconic historical, and blessed property, than she may reap great benefit, and new ideas may surmount, from her rebellious, all loving soul. Good article CBS.

[erzkarlaspern]

Public protests should be in Public, not in people's homes, theaters, churches, etc. These band members should learn Respect and not play the part of persecuted "victims". If they were arrested in Public, it would have been a better protest and a better reason for international protests against their sentencing.

[duzmafuzt]

Yes. You are spot on. The laws of the land are made by lawyers for a reason. Abusing boundaries set up by public law should not be a reason to vent your opinion or seeking publicity for your individual beliefs. Being indicted for 24 months is not the same, as being killed because of music videoing your opinion, as say, on the Arabia Peninsula? None in American Media would dare disrespect the "Cube" in Mecca. It is simple. Please Do not give credence to this blatant disregard of your immense struggles. Instead, look at this incredibly courageous position that your judicial system took, and realize 24 months is not remotely the same as not being credited for saving the planet, say, from NAZI rule! If PR cared, of dignity, the ladies in question, should have made video that exposed the abuse sisters of the world face hourly, in all muslim cultures, not just the abuse of a newly found, and very up and onward moving Russian culture. Release the gals of PR. But, they must go to all the worlds Holy Places to vent opinions of their beliefs, before paying the Motherland, a fine equivalent to Russia's extraordinary mineral, and raw materiel wealth!

[logic_ghost]

"Tolokonnikova, Samutsevich and the third band member, Maria Alekhina, were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred in August after they raucously prayed to the Virgin Mary for the deliverance from Putin at Christ the Savior Cathedral."

Pretty sure they were expressing their hatred for Putin and his regime, not religion or the mother Mary. Poor Ruskies. Free P u s s y Riot!

[duzmafuzt]

Relax. They got over. On the Arabian Peninsula they would have been fried, burned, spit on, or killed, immediately.

[presclayiii]

I'll bet that there violating the Geneva convention? And America stands idly by and allows it political prisoner should be outlawed on the global? Let the P u s s y riot go now......freedom of a democracy to vote and protest next thing is executions in the square? send them a message no more.....d--- Russians. leave those kids alone....

[antoniof123]

Dude this has bot to be the dumbest thing I have read in a while waterboarding was against the Geneva convention you remember that one right.

We no longer have respect for the Geneva convention and not only that because of GWB we have lost credibility in the world.

Thanks to you who allowed this now you see what happens when you stoop to their level.

Have a good day.

[superdem1]

The churches are supporting Putin and criminal cabals, they are as guilty and corrupt as the other ruling bodies in Russia. This band was trying to point that out, to wake people up. This isn't about bad music in a place of worship. It's about corruption, oppression, and suppressing freedom of speech - Americans are supposed to care about things like that.

[HobartSchmenge]

I'll bet the girls from P U S S Y Riot wouldn't lip sync the National Anthem at Putin's inauguration.

[erzkarlaspern]

Superdemi: These band members INVADED a church, sang Vulgarities, and outraged the faithful assembled in Their church. The sentence is Right and Sensible, Just and Deserving. Now they're playing the "poor victims", when they had the [public streets and squares or some private sponsoring venue. The band members have to learn RESPECT for Others. There's no right for someone to invade your club or house and scream against what you believe in, is there? That called "invasion of domicile". It's against the law in the USA. The anti-Putin people are trying to make these people into martyrs, but they are not. They violate and outraged the Russian Orthodox (or any other group) and get their desserts. No chocolate cake.

[HobartSchmenge]

I find it interesting that the article can freely use the word ***** multiple times, but if some commenter tries using the word ***** in one of their remarks, it shows up as all asterisks (i.e., *****). The only way around it is to put a bunch of spaces between the letters (i.e., P U S S Y).

[micmac666]

That hypocrisy was noted and commented on months ago when the story first broke. P U S S Y was even in the headlines and redacted from comments. Bad CBS.

[inketolstoy]

Too bad Solzhenitsyn is dead. I would love to get his perspective on this.

[HobartSchmenge]

I would love to get Yakov Smirnoff's perspective.

[erzkarlaspern]

I'll bet he would agree with the sentence and suggest that the band members take their protests to the Public streets and squares and face any official repression of free speech in a Public Place. He was no sappy person.

[rwsmith29456]

I would think that the venue in which they chose to express their dissent had a little something to do with it. They had already 'performed' in public places and they've never been thrown in jail. They started doing their 'thing' in a cathedral full of worshipers and the legal system doesn't take it lightly.

[erzkarlaspern]

Thank you RWSMITH: I agree completely. Where are the victims? The worshipers Outraged and Insulted in their own church by these screambodies. They had the Public streets and squares to "perform" in with a larger public.

[jgisme]

AS rotten as Russia is, I think these three women were sentenced for an actual crime and deserved their harsh sentence.

Why?, because the people who came to church that day should have been respected; One key element of obtaining respect is to respect others, and these women had not learned that simple truth.

None of this should be interpreted to infer that I respect Russia for it's mis-treatment and general bad conduct.

[erzkarlaspern]

Thumbs up, JSISME. They deserved it. Let them learn Respect, and let them use the many Public streets and squares of Moskow to make their protests to the Public.

[Martha12345]

She expected otherwise ?

[micmac666]

No, she and the others expected to be arrested and sentenced, to expose an oppressive regime. They are succeeding. Their protest was not intended as a prank to be ignored.