Pussy Riot members sent to far-flung prison colonies

A lawyer for the two jailed Pussy Riot band members says they have been transferred to prison colonies hundreds of kilometres from Moscow to serve their sentence.

Mark Feygin said Monday that Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were transferred during the weekend from Moscow prison, where they were kept since March. Feygin said prison authorities informed him that Alekhina had been sent to the Perm region in the Urals and Tolokonnikova to the central province of Mordovia. He could not confirm the information with his clients.

Alekhina, Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred in August for performing a protest prayer against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral in February, and given two-year sentences.

Samutsevich was released on appeal earlier this month.