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Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, the two members of punk band Pussy Riot released from prison last month, are to travel to the United States in early February to “inspect the conditions of inmates” and take part in a concert organized by Amnesty International.
“We are planning to visit several U.S. prisons in the state of New York, including a maximum-security prison for female inmates,” Tolokonnikova said on her Facebook account. “We will inspect the conditions of U.S. inmates.”
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Following their release from prison under an amnesty bill, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina said they were not planning any musical activities as Pussy Riot, but focusing on the defense of inmates’ rights in Russia instead.
Still, they were invited to appear at a concert organized by Amnesty International, featuring The Flaming Lips, Imagine Dragons and R&B singer Lauryn Hill in Brooklyn on Feb. 6.
Tolokonnikova confirmed that she and Alyokhina would show up at the concerts and “say a few words” out of respect for Amnesty International.
“Those guys did a lot to support us while we were in prison and their work is very important for activists and inmates all over the world,” Tolokonnikova said.
Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were sentenced to two-year prison terms for their anti-Putin “punk prayer” at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral in February 2012 and were originally supposed to be released in April 2014. Pussy Riot’s third jailed member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was released on probation in the fall of 2012.
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