Russian authorities might take away Pussy Riot members’ children

http://freepussyriot.org/news/russian-authorities-might-take-away-pussy-riot-members%E2%80%99-children

Lawyers for Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Maria Alyokhina, 24, both mothers of small children they have not seen since their arrest five months ago, have prepared fostering agreements for the children as they fear social workers could take them away.

The two women were sentenced last week with Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, another band member, to two years in jail for staging a "punk prayer" against Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's largest cathedral. Their trial and harsh sentence sparked widespread condemnation in Russia and abroad.

The Orthodox Church, whose primate Patriarch Kirill has praised Putin's leadership, said in a statement after the verdict that the band's stunt was a "sacrilege". But it also asked the authorities to "show clemency toward the convicted".

Lawyers for the band members said that soon after their arrest in March, Alyokhina was threatened with having her four-year-old son, Filipp, taken into care. The child's father is well-off and, unlike Tolokonnikova's husband, who is a radical activist, has no links to Pussy Riot.Mark Feigin, a lawyer for Tolokonnikova, whose acerbic wit has made her the face of the opposition band, said: "As a precaution we have prepared all the necessary paperwork to officially take custody of the girls' children. At one point it looked as if police wanted to arrest Nadia's husband too. That would have increased the chances of the authorities taking steps to place the couple's four-year-old daughter, Gera, into foster care."