Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova at the Moscow Tagansky District Court.

Following the "Punk Prayer" incident on February 21, 2012,[19] a criminal case was opened on February 26 against the band members who had participated.[20] On March 3, Tolokonnikova and two other alleged members of Pussy Riot were arrested by the Russian authorities and accused of hooliganism. All women at first denied being members of the group and started a hunger strike in protest against being held in jail away from their young children.[21] They were held without bail and were formally charged on June 4 with the indictment running to 2,800 pages.[22]

There was speculation that Canadian authorities might attempt to intervene because Tolokonnikova is a Canadian permanent resident;[2][23] however this did not occur.

Tolokonnikova at a protest on February 4, 2012

Tolokonnikova was serving the remainder of her two-year sentence in the IK-14 women's penal colony near the settlement of Partsa (Russian: Парца, Явасское городское поселение), Republic of Mordovia.[24] On September 23, 2013 she went on hunger strike over prison conditions and alleged threats against her life made by prison staff.[25][26][27][28] Her letter on the conditions of the women in the penal colony asserts that the women have no rights, that the prisoners must work 16–17 hours and sleep 3–4 hours a day, and that they have a day off every 8th week. Further, she claims that if they complain, they are punished, and that if they complain over the treatment of other prisoners, they are punished even harder. Claiming that collective punishment is frequent, she also stated that the prisoners may be beaten with a particular focus on hitting the kidneys. Another punishment would consist of keeping a prisoner outdoors in the cold without sufficient clothing. Most of what she reports is affirmed by other sources.[29][30][31]

While imprisoned, she exchanged letters with filmmaker, philosopher, and cultural critic Slavoj Žižek discussing democracy and her activism.[32] Their correspondence was arranged by the French philosopher Michel Eltchaninoff, and their 11 letters were compiled into a short book, Comradely Greetings: The Prison Letters of Nadya and Slavoj, published by Verso Books in 2014.[33][34]

In late September 2013, Tolokonnikova was hospitalised after going without food for a week. She was treated in the prison's medical ward; authorities did not release more specific details.[35][36][37][38][39][40]

On October 21, 2013, she was transferred to another prison; her whereabouts remained unknown for several weeks.[41][42] On November 5, 2013, it was reported that Tolokonnikova had been transferred to IK-50, a prison located near Nizhny Ingash, approximately 300 kilometres from Krasnoyarsk, Siberia.[43][44] On November 15 she was again able to communicate with her husband through a video call from the prison hospital.[45]

On the afternoon of December 23, 2013, Tolokonnikova was released from a prison hospital in Krasnoyarsk, where she was being treated for an unspecified illness.[46] According to Yelena Pimonenko, senior prosecutor assistant of the Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tolokonnikova was released because the article "hooliganism" of the Russian Criminal Code falls under the newly introduced amnesty bill.[3] Putin's amnesty was seen by the freed prisoners and numerous critics as a propaganda stunt as Russia prepared to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in February.[47][48][49][50][51] Tolokonnikova said, "Releasing people just a few months before their term expires is a cosmetic measure ... that includes the case of Khodorkovsky, who didn't have much time left on his prison term. This is ridiculous. While Putin refuses to release those people who really needed it. It is a disgusting and cynical act"[52] and urged countries to boycott the 2014 Winter Olympics.[53] She and Alyokhina said they would form a human rights movement for prison reforms.[47][50] On March 6, 2014, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were assaulted and injured at a fast food outlet by local youths in Nizhny Novgorod.[54]

After release, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina founded a penal and judicial-themed media outlet MediaZona.

In February 2014, Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were detained in Sochi by the Adler Police in connection with an alleged hotel theft. They were released without charge.[55] On February 19 footage surfaced showing Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina being attacked with nagaikas by Cossacks, who were helping patrol Sochi during the Winter Olympics.[56]

In 2016, she published the autobiographical book How to Start a Revolution.

In 2018–19, Tolokonnikova wrote music for and toured with the musical production Riot Days, based on the book of the same name by Maria Alyokhina.