Pussy Rioters Arrested Yet Again, This Time in Sochi Before Planned Protest Performance

Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, among a dozen others, were detained Tuesday in the locale of the 2014 Winter Olympics for their alleged involvement in a theft at the Hotel Adler. Though they were released just a few hours later, their time in prison (a place neither singer is unfamiliar with) was brutal. One thing remains true, however: These Pussy Rioters are proving they have at least nine lives and in each one their spirit and spunk remains as lively as before, evidenced by the anti-Putin chant they sang as they emerged from jail.

CNN:

…band members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were meeting with journalists when police detained them, according to Tolokonnikova’s husband, Petr Verzilov. Russian media corroborated the report.

“They were put to the floor and beaten and physical force was used to them when they refused to be questioned without the presence of their lawyer, who was on his way to the police department,” Verzilov told reporters.

“Unbelievable lawlessness, even we are amazed,” tweeted Tolokonnikova. “Beat on the floor of the department, in the Olympic capital!”

Invoking the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin, she added, “They dragged me on the floor in the hall of the department, hands tied behind back and thrown to the floor. Putin will teach you to love the motherland!”

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To watch Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova charm Stephen Colbert in an interview on his show, click here.

—Posted by Natasha Hakimi