Two Pussy Riot Members Flee Russia

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Aug 27, 2012

Following last week's news that Moscow police were on the hunt for more Pussy Riot members connected to a controversial "punk prayer" that landed three women in prison, the Russian punk collective have announced that two other musicians have since fled the country.

News of the escape came via a Twitter group called Pussy Riot Group [via the Guardian], which wrote, "In regard to the pursuit, two of our members have successfully fled the country! They are recruiting foreign feminists to prepare new actions!"

Following the August 17 guilty verdict that landed the band's Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samusevich a two-year jail term under charges of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred," representatives for the Moscow police confirmed that they were searching for additional women who helped stage the anti-Putin performance in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral last February. They didn't specify whether these women would be formally charged or questioned, but it appears the fleeing members didn't want to take any chances.

"Since the Moscow police said they are searching for them, they will keep a low profile for now. They are in a safe place beyond the reach of the Russian police," Tolokonnikova's husband Pyotr Verzilov confirmed to Reuters.

While he obviously didn't name names or specify where the exiled musicians had gone, he conceded that it was a country without extradition regulations.

He added, however, that a number of the Kremlin-critiquing members are still on the home front, fighting the fight.

"You must remember that 12 or even 14 members who are still in Russia actively participate in the band's work now; it's a big collective," he said.

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