Support The Moscow Times!

Pussy Riot Activist Fined for Avoiding Community Service

Maria Alyokhina (Pavel Golovkin / AP / TASS)

Pussy Riot band member Maria Alyokhina has been fined for failing to perform community service, part of a punishment for several protests aimed at the Russian security services.

Alyokhina was detained last December for displaying a banner calling Russia's secret services butchers, and again in April for throwing paper planes near the Federal Security Service (FSB) building in support of the Telegram instant messaging service. A court ordered Alyokhina to volunteer a total of 140 hours of community service for both acts of civil disobedience.

Alyokhina, who has focused on human rights activism after spending two years behind bars for performing a “punk prayer” in Russia’s main church, did not perform the community service.

The activist was detained outside a Moscow courthouse while attending a hearing on an unrelated defamation lawsuit.

Alyokhina later told Interfax that she was fined 200,000 rubles ($3,217) for missing both rounds of community service, for a total fine of 400,000 rubles ($6,435).

The activist plans to appeal the decision — and continue disobeying the court orders to complete her community service — she told the Ekho Moskvy radio station Wednesday.

Read more