Pussy Riot Member Ends Hunger Strike

June 4, 2013

One of the three members of the Pussy Riot band, jailed for performing a profanity-laced punk song against Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral, ended a hunger strike on Saturday after prison authorities gave in to her demands.

Maria Alyokhina, 25, went on hunger strike last month after officials prevented her from attending a parole hearing and was hospitalized as her physical condition got worse.

Her lawyer, Irina Khrunova, said Alyokhina had ended the strike after a number of her demands, which included the reversal of excessive security measures in the prison, were met.

Pyotr Verzilov, the husband of another jailed band member, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, said by phone that he thought it was "unprecedented" for Russian prison authorities to hear the demands of inmates.

(Reuters)

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