Pussy Riot - Russian Punk Stars Moved To Harsh Prison Camps

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina were sentenced to two years behind bars for performing a protest song about President Vladimir Putin earlier this year (12) but it is believed they were held in custody in Moscow pending an appeal.

Earlier this month (Oct12), appeal court judges upheld the sentences, and over the weekend (20-21Oct12) the women were transferred to harsh prison camps branded by their supporters as "the cruellest that could have been chosen".

Tolokonnikova, 22, has been taken to a facility in Mordovia, and 24 year old Alekhina has been moved to a camp in Perm.

Both women have a young child, and campaigners argue it is unfair of authorities to make the pair serve their sentences so far from their family homes in Moscow.

In a post on Twitter.com, a spokesman for Pussy Riot writes, "At the weekend Nadya (Tolokonnikova) was sent on a special flight to Mordovia, while Masha (Alyokhina) was sent to (the) Perm region. Those are (the) cruellest camps of any that could have been chosen."

A third member of Pussy Riot - Yekaterina Samutsevich - won her appeal against her conviction at the hearing earlier this month and was immediately released.