Jailed Pussy Riot punk rocker ends hunger strike

Jailed Pussy Riot band member, Maria Alyokhina Moscow – Arabstoday Jailed Pussy Riot punk rocker Maria Alyokhina has announced an end to her hunger strike after 11 days as the prison has met her demands, the husband of Alyokhina's bandmate said Saturday.
"Maria said that the prison administration took her on a special tour of the colony, to show her that her demands have been met," Pyotr Verzilov, the husband of the second jailed Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, told AFP, adding that Alyokhina then "announced an end to her hunger strike".
Alyokhina, 24, jailed for her protest stunt in a prominent Moscow cathedral, was denied parole on May 23.
She had gone on a hunger strike a day earlier in protest against the authorities' refusal to allow her to attend the parole hearing in person, AFP reports.
She later added the treatment of other convicts in the colony as a further reason for her hunger strike.
The convicts who live and work with her were locked up in their rooms and denied any movement around the colony's territory, including to the workshops, she said, adding that colony employees monitored her every move.
She suspected that the new restrictive measures were introduced to set other convicts against her.
Unlike jails, Russian prison colonies allow a greater degree of freedom to convicts, allowing them to move about their usually large territories. They also employ the convicts in workshops on various menial tasks like sewing.
In a letter sent to the prison colony and regional prison officials, Alyokhina demanded that padlocks be removed, regular work schedule resumed, and constant surveillance of her every move stopped. The letter was posted Monday on the website of the Echo of Moscow radio station.
On Saturday, prison officials took her on a tour, showing her that her demands for the removal of padlocks and restrictions to convicts' movements have been met, Verzilov said.
Alyokhina is still being treated in the prison hospital after refusing food for eleven days, he added.
"She is in the prison hospital and is very weak, but this victory gives her strength," he said, adding that Alyokhina had phoned him from the colony.
Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, both of whom are mothers to young children, were sentenced to two years in prison last August for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after they performed an anti-Vladimir Putin stunt in a major Moscow cathedral.
The band members, clad in colourful dresses and balaclavas, staged a "punk prayer" in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, calling on the Virgin Mary to "drive out" Vladimir Putin just weeks ahead of his election in March to a third presidential term.
The two-year prison sentence for their brief stunt was denounced as disproportionate by many liberal Russians and cultural figures around the world.
The court in Berezniki denied Alyokhina's request for appeal despite her boycott of the hearing and several letters of support from global stars like Beatles frontman Paul McCartney.
Among the reasons for the denial was Alyokhina's failure to repent for her actions and lack of initiative in keeping her prison quarters tidy.
The case against Pussy Riot has attracted worldwide attention and polarised Russian society, with Orthodox activists frequently clashing with supporters of the group who called for the performers' release.
A third woman convicted in the trial, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was later released on appeal with a suspended sentence after spending several months in pre-trial detention