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Pussy Riot members to appear at Brooklyn concert next month

Pussy Riot members to appear at Brooklyn concert next month

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Recently freed Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Aloykhina will speak about prisoners of conscience at an Amnesty International event

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pussy riot (flickr)
pussy riot (flickr)

Two members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot will speak at a concert in New York next month, following their high-profile release from prison. The members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Aloykhina, were released in December, under an amnesty bill passed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. As Rolling Stone reports, the artists will appear at Amnesty International's Bringing Human Rights Home concert on February 5th, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The political activists were sentenced to two years in prison in 2012 for staging an anti-Putin performance inside a Moscow cathedral. They ended up serving 21 months before being released, though Tolokonnikova and Aloykhina remain fiercely anti-Putin and have dedicated themselves to supporting the rights of political prisoners around the globe. At next month's concert, they plan to address the audience about the plights of others who have been imprisoned for their political beliefs, race, or sexual orientation.

"We will never forget what it's like to be in prison after a political conviction."

"We are happy to support Amnesty International's work on behalf of human rights and political prisoners," the artists said in a statement. "We, more than anyone, understand how important Amnesty's work is in connecting activists to prisoners. A month ago we were freed from Russian prison camps. We will never forget what it's like to be in prison after a political conviction."