Week-ending 4 December 2020
On 3 December 2020 Rita Flores, a member of Pussy Riot also known as Margarita Konovalova, was detained by police in Moscow, charged with repeated violation of the law on public assembly and sentenced to 20 days in jail for her participation in a street performance staged on 28 November near Red Square entitled ‘Fragile! Handle with Care!’ in which two women in national costume tied a third participant wearing a riot police uniform to a lamp pole with packing tape.
Sources:
RFE/RL, Thursday, 3 December 2020: A member of the Pussy Riot protest group has been detained for taking part in a protest performance in Moscow last week. Police detained Rita Flores, also known as Margarita Konovalova, after she was taken to a Moscow hospital overnight to be treated for an unspecified illness, Maria Alyokhina, a member of the protest group, said on December 3. According to Alyokhina, police charged Flores with repeatedly violating the law on public gatherings and remanded her in custody. Flores is expected to face trial later in the day. On November 28, Flores, Alyokhina and artist Farkhad Israfilli-Gelman staged a protest performance called Fragile! Handle With Care! not far from the State History Museum near Red Square.
RFE/RL, Friday, 4 December 2020: A member of the Pussy Riot protest group has been sentenced to 20 days in jail for taking part in a protest performance in Moscow last week. Lawyer Mansur Gilmanov said late on December 3 that Rita Flores, also known as Margarita Konovalova, was found guilty of repeatedly violating the law on public gatherings. He added that the court’s ruling will be appealed. Maria Alyokhina, a member of the protest group, said earlier on December 3 that police detained Flores after she was taken to a Moscow hospital overnight to be treated for an unspecified illness. On November 28, Flores, Alyokhina, and artist Farkhad Israfilli-Gelman staged a protest performance called Fragile! Handle With Care! not far from the State History Museum near Red Square. In the performance, two women in Russian national costumes tied Israfilli-Gelman, who was wearing a riot police uniform, to a light pole with packing tape.
