Pussy Riot members re-arrested after leaving prison
July 31, 2018
After their release from prison on Monday, three members of the protest group Pussy Riot were detained by police as they celebrated their freedom.
A reporter from French news agency AFP saw Veronika Nikulshina, Olga Kuracheva and Olga Pakhtusova being forced into a police van seconds after their release.
A fourth activist tweeted that he was detained by riot police after being freed from a different Moscow detention center. Pyotr Verzilov said on Twitter: "They (the police) say they will leave us under arrest for the night."
They were taken to the Luzhniki police department, Russia's TASS news agency reported, citing "a well-informed interior [ministry] source."
Pitch invasion
A Moscow court earlier this month sentenced the activists to 15 days in police cells, and also banned them from visiting sports events for three years after they ran onto the pitch dressed as police officers during the World Cup final.
Read more: Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina: 'Fear is the most dangerous thing'
The match, between France and Croatia, was attended by world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
Pussy Riot said their pitch invasion was a protest against Putin. They issued a list of political demands, including ending arrests at peaceful rallies in Russia.
kw/rt (AP, AFP, DPA)