Nadezhda Tolokonnikova
Nadezhda Andreyevna Tolokonnikova (Russian: Наде жда Андре евна Толоко нникова; born November 7, 1989), nicknamed "Nadya Tolokno" (Надя Толокно), is a Russian conceptual artist and political activist. She is a member of the anti-Putinist punk rock group Pussy Riot, and has a history of political activism with the controversial street art group Voina. On August 17, 2012, she was convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" after a performance in Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. On December 23, 2013, she was released early with another Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina under a newly passed amnesty bill dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Russian constitution. Tolokonnikova was recognized as a political prisoner by the Russian human rights group "Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners". Amnesty International named her a prisoner of conscience due to "the severity of the response of the Russian authorities".