Pussy Riot Band Members Transferred To Russian Prison Colonies, Outside Moscow

The two remaining jailed members of the Russian punk band, Pussy Riot, have been transferred to prison colonies hundreds of miles from Moscow to serve the remainder of their sentence, according to several news reports.

Citing a statement from their lawyer, Mark Feygin, the Rolling Stone said Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Nedezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, had been moved over the weekend. The two women had been held in a Moscow detention center since their arrests in March.

Feygin said he was informed by authorities that Alyokhina was transferred to the Perm region in the Urals, while Tolokonnikova was transferred to the central province of Mordovia. Neither location has been confirmed by the Pussy Riot members, Rolling Stone reported.

Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova are serving a two-year sentence for what a Moscow judge has referred to as “hooliganism.”

The court concluded that the band members "expressed hatred and hostility" toward Russian Orthodox believers when, dressed in brightly colored dresses and balaclavas, they performed a "punk prayer" in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral on Feb. 21, asking the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of President Vladimir Putin.

A third member of Pussy Riot, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was also convicted, though she was freed earlier this month on appeal.