The Basmanny court in Moscow has issued in absentia an arrest warrant against Pyotr Verzilov, 35, a well-known activist of the Pussy Riot group and publisher of the MediaZona newspaper. He is accused on the basis of the new gag law which provides for long prison sentences for the dissemination of information on the army that should be judged “false” by the Russian authorities and which effectively prohibits speaking out against the special operation in Ukraine.
Verzilov, who no longer lives in Russia, was allegedly charged over internet posts denouncing Bucha’s atrocities. Returning to Russia he would risk up to 10 years in prison. Verzilov was married to Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.
Disguised as a rider, so the Pussy Riot Maria Alyokhina fled Russia
Peter Verzilov in 2018 had been poisoned and hospitalized. He had fallen ill following his brief arrest with fellow Pussy Riot members (he was married to Nadezhda Tolokonnikova) in the wake of their protest against Russian policy. His condition had deteriorated to the point where he could not walk, speak or see. Then the slow recovery.
The persecution of the band
In March 2012 three women from the group Pussy Riot were arrested on charges of “hooliganism and inciting religious hatred” for staging an unauthorized exhibition against Putin during a religious celebration in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior . Their case had aroused much interest, both in Russia and in the international community, due to the alleged abuses to which they were allegedly subjected in custody, and due to the imminent threat of a severe sentence, up to 7 years in prison, according to the measures provided for by Russian law. They had also been harshly criticized by many exponents of Russian society, who had considered themselves offended by their religious sensibilities and traditions. Even the highest Russian religious authority, Patriarch Cyril I, had intervened, who, during a liturgy in the Church of the Deposition of the Robe, had asked for a severe response to gestures considered blasphemous
Disguised as a rider, so the Pussy Riot Maria Alyokhina fled Russia
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On August 17, 2012 the sentence: the musicians had been declared guilty of the charges against them and sentenced to a two-year prison sentence. Many artists had taken a defensive position towards the band and in favor of freedom of expression, among them the pop star Madonna.