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Pussy Riot Member Jailed for Anti-Police Brutality Protest

Pussy Riot members dressed in traditional Russian folk costumes tied an artist wearing an OMON officer’s uniform to a lamp post with caution tape. Pussy Riot

Pussy Riot member Margarita Konovalova, also known as Rita Flores, has been sentenced to 20 days in jail for staging an anti-police brutality protest near the Kremlin, the Apologia Telegram channel reported Thursday. 

During the Nov. 28 protest, Pussy Riot members in traditional Russian folk costumes tied artist Farhad Israfilli-Gelman, who was wearing an OMON officer’s uniform, to a lamp post using caution tape on Manezhnaya Square. 

The Tverskoy District Court sentenced Konovalova to 20 days of administrative arrest for repeated violations of Russian protest law, Apologia reported.

She was detained Wednesday after being taken to a hospital in an ambulance. Before the arrest, the electricity in Flores' apartment was cut off, damaging the wiring, according to attorney Mansur Gilmanov. 

Fellow Pussy Riot member Maria Alekhina, who also took part in the protest, was detained the day before. Israfilli-Gelman and photographer Gleb Kuznetsov were handed administrative protocols for participating in an unauthorized action.

Under Russian law, any protest larger than one person is illegal unless authorized by the authorities in advance.

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