MOSCOW, December 24 (RIA Novosti) – A jailed member of the Pussy Riot group has been reprimanded after sleeping in at the penal colony where she is serving time for a high-profile protest in Moscow’s largest cathedral, a Federal Penitentiary Service official told RIA Novosti on Monday.
“Maria Alyokhina was reprimanded on December 20, so she has been reprimanded twice in the prison and twice in the pretrial detention center in Moscow,” Stanislav Volegov said.
He refuted allegations that officials at the Perm region penal colony are intentionally creating conflict situations to punish Alyokhina, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin.
“A junior inspector starts waking her up at six in the morning, but she intentionally refuses to obey his orders. She is deliberately not following regulations,” he said.
He also said that Alyokhina is receiving individual educational “instruction,” to help her start abiding by the rules.
Pussy Riot members Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich were each sentenced to two years in August for their part in a controversial protest at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral.
Tolokonnikova is serving her time in a penal colony in the central Russian region of Mordovia. Samutsevich was freed on appeal in October after a judge ruled she had not had time to take part in the performance of a song entitled “Holy S**t” before she was grabbed by cathedral security.