Maria Alyokhina

Maria Alyokhina
Alyokhina in 2014
Native name	Мари́я Влади́мировна Алёхина
Born	Maria Vladimirovna Alyokhina (1988-06-06) June 6, 1988 (age 28) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Russian
Education	Institute of Journalism and Creative Writing
Occupation	Political activist, student, musician
Organization	Pussy Riot
Criminal charge	Hooliganism motivated by religious hatred
Criminal penalty	2 years imprisonment
Criminal status	Released under amnesty on December 23, 2013

Maria Vladimirovna "Masha" Alyokhina (Russian: Мари́я Влади́мировна Алёхина; born June 6, 1988) is a Russian political activist. She is a member of the anti-Putinistpunk rock group Pussy Riot. On August 17, 2012, she was convicted of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” for a performance in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. She has been recognized as a political prisoner by the Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners.Amnesty International named her a prisoner of conscience due to "the severity of the response of the Russian authorities."

At the time of her arrest, Alyokhina was a fourth-year student at the Institute of Journalism and Creative Writing in Moscow, where she participated in the literature courses of Dmitry Vedenyapin and Alexey Kubrik. She is a published poet. She has been involved in environmental activism with Greenpeace Russia, opposing development projects in the Khimki Forest, and was a volunteer at the Children's Psychiatric Hospital in Moscow. Her son Filip was born in 2008. She is a vegan and reportedly collapsed from hunger during the trial, as no vegan meals were provided in detention.

She played an active role in the Pussy Riot trial, cross-examining witnesses, and aggressively questioning the charges and proceedings. She said in her closing statement:

For me, this trial only has the status of a "so-called" trial. And I am not afraid of you. I am not afraid of lies and fiction, of the thinly disguised fraud in the sentence of this so-called court. Because you can only take away my so-called freedom. And that is the exact kind that exists now in Russia. But nobody can take away my inner freedom.