Pussy Riot members to speak at Sziget Festival

Two members of Pussy Riot, Nadia Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina, will speak on 14 August in a roundtable discussion at Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary.

The two band members will take part in a public interactive roundtable discussion on the topic of freedom. Such a theme is now commonly associated with the festival, which has become known as the “Island of Freedom”. The discussion will be a charity event, as the fee received by the band members will go to a human rights organisation of their choosing.

Pussy Riot is a feminist punk-rock activist group known for provocative performances and opposition to President Vladimir Putin. Nadia Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina were sentenced to two years in prison following their guerilla performance at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow in February 2012, but were released in December 2013 following considerable criticism of the trial and sentence.