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Pussy Riot pair fear losing children

The Russian authorities may seek to take the children of two jailed members of Pussy Riot into care following last week’s conviction of the opposition punk band.

Lawers for Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Maria Alyokhina, 24, both mothers of young children they have not seen since their arrest five months ago, have prepared fostering agreements for the children as they fear social workers could take them away.

The two women were sentenced last week with Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, another band member, to two years in jail for staging a “punk prayer” against Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, in Moscow’s largest cathedral. Their trial and harsh sentence sparked widespread condemnation in Russia and abroad.

The Orthodox Church, whose primate Patriarch Kirill has praised Putin’s leadership, said in a statement after the verdict that the band’s stunt was a “sacrilege”. But it also asked the authorities to “show clemency toward the convicted”.

Mark Feigin, a lawer for Tolokonnikova, whose good looks and acerbic wit have made her the face of the opposition band, said: “As a precaution we have prepared all the necessary paperwork to officially take custody of the girl’s children.

“At one point it looked as of police wanted to arrest Nadia’s husband too. That would have increased the chances of the authorities taking steps to place the couple’s four-year-old daughter, Gera, into care.”

Lawers for the jailed band members said that shortly after their arrest in March, Alyokhina was threatened with her four-year-old son, Filipp, being taken into care. The child’s father is well off, and unlike Tolokonnikova’s husband, who is a radical opposition activist, has no links to Pussy Riot.

Steps are also being taken to protect the children of Sergei Udaltsov, a leading activist, who is accused of clashing with police at an anti-Kremlin demonstration in May.

The three band members were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.

The five months they have already served on remand will be taken into account.

Under Russian law they are allowed to apply for early release after serving half their sentence.

By Mark Franchetti

(Source: The Sunday Times)

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