A jailed member of the Pussy Riot radical rock group today announced she was going on hunger strike in protest over the authorities' failure to allow her to attend a parole hearing in person.
Maria Alyokhina, 24, told a court in the Ural Mountains city of Berezniki by video link from her prison camp that she was going on hunger strike and ordering her lawyers to pull out of the parole hearing until she was brought to the court in person, Russian news agencies reported.
Alyokhina's announcement capped a sometimes farcical first day of the parole hearing which was marked by frequent breaks to decide on legal technicalities and almost no examination of the substance of the issue.
"I declare a hunger strike and insist on my participation (in court). I forbid my lawyers to take part in the parole hearing until I am brought to court for the parole hearing," Alyokhina told the court by video link, quoted on Twitter by the radical art group Voina (War) which supports her and was present in court.
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