page_title: Nadezhda Tolokonnikova
section_title: Arrest and indictment
hierarchical_section_title: Nadezhda Tolokonnikova / Career / Arrest and indictment
caption_attribution_description: English: Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (Pussy Riot) at the Moscow Tagansky District Court
context_page_description: Nadezhda Andreyevna Tolokonnikova, nicknamed "Nadya Tolokno", is a Russian conceptual artist and political activist. She was a member of the anarchist feminist group Pussy Riot, and has a history of political activism with the controversial street art group Voina. On August 17, 2012, she was convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" after a performance in Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. On December 23, 2013, she was released early with another Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina under a newly passed amnesty bill dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Russian constitution.
  Tolokonnikova was recognized as a political prisoner by the Russian human rights group Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners. Amnesty International named her a prisoner of conscience due to "the severity of the response of the Russian authorities".
context_section_description: Following the "Punk Prayer" incident on February 21, 2012, a criminal case was opened on February 26 against the band members who had participated. On March 3, Tolokonnikova and two other alleged members of Pussy Riot were arrested by the Russian authorities and accused of hooliganism. All women at first denied being members of the group and started a hunger strike in protest against being held in jail away from their young children. They were held without bail and were formally charged on June 4 with the indictment running to 2,800 pages.
  There was speculation that Canadian authorities might attempt to intervene because Tolokonnikova is a Canadian permanent resident; however this did not occur.
caption: Nadezhda Tolokonnikova at the Moscow Tagansky District Court.
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