Pussy Riot member asks for solitary confinement
Members of the all-girl punk band Pussy Rio, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (C), Maria Alyokhina (R) and Yekaterina Samutsevich (L), sit behind bars during a court hearing in Moscow on July 20, 2012.
Maria Alyokhina, a jailed member of the feminist Russian protest group Pussy Riot, requested solitary confinement Friday, according to prison officials.
"Some tensions arose in relationships and, apparently, to prevent this situation from escalating, she decided to submit a request to the prison leadership and they moved her to a one-person cell," a prison service spokeswoman said, according to the Irish Independent.
Held in a Perm penal colony, Alyokhina, 24, reportedly had "strained relations" with her inmates.
"The girl wrote to the leadership of the colony requesting measures to ensure her safety. She demonstrated that those around her have a bad attitude toward her. Therefore it was decided to transfer her to a room where she can be alone indefinitely," a prison representative told Interfax.
Pussy Riot lawyer Mark Feigin had previously said in October his client's safety and health was at risk due to the austere conditions of the prison colony.
Three members of Pussy Riot were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for performing an anti-Putin "punk prayer" in Moscow's Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In short, the girls danced and sang a song with lyrics like, "Mother Mary, please drive Putin away."
Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich was released from prison last month.
CNN reports the Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina will submit their case to the European Court of Human Rights.
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