Pussy Riot members arrested again in Sochi
By Sam Rigby
Two members of Pussy Riot have been arrested in Sochi.
Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were detained by police on suspicion of committing a criminal offence.
However, the pair claim they were simply walking down the street when the arrest was made.
Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were released from prison in December, after spending two years in custody singing protest songs in a Russian cathedral.
Tolokonnikova told BBC News that they are being held at a police station on suspicion of “theft”. They have yet to be officially charged or questioned.
The pair have allegedly been constantly followed by authorities since arriving in Sochi, where they intended to perform their song ‘Putin Will Teach You To Love Your Motherland’, a song said to be about “political repression in Russia”.
Tweeting about the arrest, Tolokonnikova wrote: “At the moment of detention, we were not conducting any actions, we were walking in Sochi.
“We are in Sochi with the goal of staging a Pussy Riot protest. The song is called ‘Putin will teach you to love the motherland.'”
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