1. Maria "Masha" Vladimirovna Alyokhina is a Russian political activist.
19 Facts About Maria Alyokhina
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Maria Alyokhina is a member of the anti-Putinist punk rock group Pussy Riot.
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Maria Alyokhina's mother works as a programmer and her father is a mathematics professor.
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Maria Alyokhina was raised by her mother, and only met her father at age 21.
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Maria Alyokhina studied journalism at the Institute of Journalism and Creative Writing in Moscow, where she participated in a sequence of literature workshops given by the poets Dmitry Vedenyapin and Alexey Kubrik.
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Maria Alyokhina has been recognized as a political prisoner by the Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners.
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At the time of her arrest, Maria Alyokhina was a fourth-year student.
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Maria Alyokhina 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.
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Maria Alyokhina is a vegan and reportedly collapsed from hunger during the trial, as no vegan meals were provided in detention.
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Maria Alyokhina played an active role in the Pussy Riot trial, cross-examining witnesses, and aggressively questioning the charges and proceedings.
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Maria Alyokhina was released from prison on December 23,2013, under an amnesty bill passed by the Russian Duma, allowing the release of several inmates.
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On February 19 footage surfaced showing Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina being attacked with horsewhips by Cossacks who were patrolling Sochi during the 2014 Winter Olympics.
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On January 23,2021, Maria Alyokhina was arrested in Moscow and detained for 48 hours for attending a protest in support of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
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Maria Alyokhina was charged with "violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules", a criminal offence during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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On February 7,2022, Maria Alyokhina was arrested again, at her home.
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On February 27,2022, Maria Alyokhina was arrested one more time when she was in taxi and transported to police precinct.
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Maria Alyokhina has one son named Filip, born in 2008, with Nikita Demidov.
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In 2012, Maria Alyokhina stated that she considered herself Christian, but is critical of the Russian Orthodox Church for the harsh response to Pussy Riot's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour performance.
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Maria Alyokhina was co-winner of the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought.