RUSSIA: Grandmother of Pussy Riot member says she was good child who happened to hurt President Putin who was not able to forgive her

Record ID: 261487

  • Title: RUSSIA: Grandmother of Pussy Riot member says she was good child who happened to hurt President Putin who was not able to forgive her
  • Date: 21st December 2013
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) GRANDMOTHER OF JAILED PUSSY RIOT MEMBER NADEZHDA TOLOKONNIKOVA, VARVARA TOLOKONNIKOVA, 79, SAYING: "No one could expect she would be jailed. They could have been punished some other way if they didn't hurt Putin. He is a very resentful person. He is very vein. It was a slap in the face for him. He couldn't forgive them. And he didn't want to. That's w
  • Embargoed: 5th January 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA7PVBLFD71XJ55VAQ0FCWEUHJF
  • Story Text: A grandmother of the jailed Pussy Riot Nadezhda Tolokonnikova continued to wait for her granddaughter's release in her Siberian flat on Saturday (December 21).
    Varvara Tolokonnikova, 79, lives in the same Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk some 3,600 kilometres east of Moscow where Nadezhda is kept at a prison hospital.
    Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 24, is eligible for the release from prison under the amnesty passed by Russia's parliament on Wednesday (December 18) but the papers for her release were still not processed.
    Along with 25-year-old fellow bandmate Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is serving a two-year jail sentence for performing, together with her band, a crude "punk prayer" against Putin and his ties to the Russian Orthodox church in Moscow's main cathedral.
    Her grandmother, looking through family photos, described her as a good child, despite all the vilifying she received in the Russian press following her arrest.

    "There was nothing hard or harsh in her childhood. It's all speculation that appeared afterwards. They had to invent something, to call her a difficult child. She was an easy child, a joyful child, with a sense of humour. I don't know why they say otherwise," Varvara Tolokonnikova said.

    "No one could expect she would be jailed. They could have been punished some other way if they didn't hurt Putin. He is a very resentful person. He is very vein. It was a slap in the face for him. He couldn't forgive them. And he didn't want to. That's why things went as they did," the grandmother said.
    On Wednesday (December 18) Russia's State Duma, or lower house of parliament, adopted an amnesty which lawyers said would free two jailed members of punk band Pussy Riot and enable 30 people arrested in a Greenpeace protest against Arctic oil drilling to avoid trial.
    It came into force on Thursday (December 19) once it was published in the official government newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

    "I was very pessimistic (about the amnesty) because for some reason I didn't believe she will be released soon despite all other predictions. I feel so intimidated by all their actions against Nadya that I could not believe it will happen so soon as in a fairytale," Varvara Tolokonnikova told Reuters, speaking for the first time to international media.
    Putin, accused by his critics of curbing democracy during 14 years in power and stifling dissent in his third presidential term, said last month the amnesty should "underscore the humanism of our state".
    It would release many elderly and young people, women with young children and people with disabilities.
    Tolokonnikova's lawyers and family expect her to be released before the New Year.
    The grandmother tried to speak to Nadezhda over the phone but was told she was busy.

    "She was absent, she was at a concert. Today and tomorrow, for two days she has concerts. They perform and take part in some humour shows, I believe," Varvara Tolokonnikova said.
    Earlier in the week, Nadezhda's husband Peter Verzilov said that the jailed Pussy Riot member was put in charge of the cultural programme for the New Year festivities at her Siberian prison.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register